Recreating Peace
by skg1991
Summary: This is my first fan fiction. The Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto who brought peace must now fight his rival Sasuke who wanted to be Hokage himself. Now Naruto is back in the chaotic Shinobi world where he must once again defeat the Akatsuki and recreate peace. Time-travel. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Not a Harem. Separate pairings. Rated M for safety.
1. Chapter1-Prologue

**RECREATING PEACE**

**Summary: This is my first fan fiction. It is based on Naruto. The Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto who brought peace must now fight his rival Sasuke who wanted to be Hokage himself. During their final attack, Sasuke died and they were sent into the past. Now Naruto is back in the chaotic Shinobi world where he must once again defeat the Akatsuki and recreate peace.**

**CHAPTER 1: PROLOGUE**

FLASHBACK(italics)

_Four years had gone by since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi war. The war ended with two men coming out as heroes. The two men, who were rivals when they were young, grew up following two different paths and ended up becoming the two strongest ninjas of the era. The two of them once again ended up serving the same village. But after four years when a new leader had to replace the old leader, only one of them could take the title, the title of the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure. For the previous village leader, the elders, the shinobi council and the daimyo, it was a rather easy choice. They went with the obvious choice of choosing the former village pariah who earned the title of the most notorious prankster of the Village in his childhood, went on to become the dead-last in the academy, saved the village from the formerly insane jinchuuriki of Sunagakure, saved the Godaime Kazekage of Sunagakure from the Akatsuki, saved the village from being annihilated by Pain, became the hero of the village and then became the hero of the shinobi world rescuing everyone from the wrath of Uchiha Madara, the man who finally brought peace into the shinobi world, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto._

_This obviously didn't sit well with his rival, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke as a shinobi had been through a lot. When he was only seven years old, he saw his idol, his older brother, Uchiha Itachi slaughter through his entire clan. He swore revenge against his older brother and pushed everyone away. Following the path of an avenger, he ran away from the village, he joined hands and trained under the traitorous Sannin of Konoha, Orochimaru. Three years later, he killed Orochimaru. He then formed his own team and went after Itachi. After killing Itachi and attaining his revenge, he found out that Itachi was in fact a true shinobi who was ordered by his own village to destroy the Uchiha clan to prevent a coup d'état. After learning the truth about Itachi, he swore to destroy his former village, Konohagakure. His sharingan evolved into a mangekyo sharingan and he joined the Akatsuki. He tried to capture the Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi, Killer Bee. However he failed. He then learned about one of his primary targets, Danzo going to the Gokage Kaidan in Tetsu no Kuni as the Hokage. He attacked the Gokage Kaidan and the five kage in an open assault. He escaped thanks to Tobi's intervention. He then fought and killed Danzo. He then tried killing his former team mate, Haruno Sakura and his former sensei, Hatake Kakashi, only to be stopped by his arch rival, Uzumaki Naruto. For the sake of killing Naruto, he had Itachi's eyes implanted into him, which gave him the power of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He then fought alongside the reanimated Uchiha Itachi against Yakushi Kabuto. After defeating Kabuto, he revived Orochimaru. He then decided to clear all his doubts with the four Hokages who were revived thanks to Orochimaru's edo-tensei no jutsu. After hearing the truth about shinobi and villages form the first Hokage, Senju Hashirama, he decided to help the alliance in their battle against Tobi and the revived Madara. He alongside Naruto defeated the nearly invincible jinchuuriki of the Juubi, Madara after defeating Obito (Tobi). Orochimaru finally died during the war. He then joined Konoha as a shinobi under the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade. He was pardoned for all his crimes by the Gokage thanks to the man who was hailed as the hero of the shinobi world, his best friend and rival, Uzumaki Naruto. He then decided to become the next Hokage of Konoha and change the village and the shinobi world himself. He found out later that the villagers no longer trusted him anymore. His former classmates and even his former fan-girl, Haruno Sakura looked at him with cold and untrusting eyes. The Konoha council wanted him placed in CRA alongside Naruto, whose heritage was finally announced to the village. Naruto got marriage proposals from other villages including Kurotsuchi from Iwa, the Mizukage herself, Mei Terumi from Kiri and Samui who Naruto unsealed from the Rikudou's urn from Kumo. While all Sasuke got were weak civilian girls. He however continued enduring it all with his goals and ambitions in mind. However his goals and dreams were hit hard when he heard that his rival and best friend, Naruto would become the next Hokage._

_While he always knew that Naruto was the more favored candidate, he just couldn't bear the thought of following orders of someone he considered to be way below himself. His pride and ego would never allow him to follow the orders of the former dead-last who had become stronger with each and every single passing day. He knew they were evenly matched. Maybe Naruto was a little stronger due to his tenant and his determination to never give up, but he would rather be dead than follow the orders of the former dead-last. However for the sake of his goals, he decided to swallow his pride, continue serving under Naruto patiently and wait till Naruto retired to become the next Hokage._

_A month had passed by and Naruto had officially taken over as the Rokudaime Hokage. Naruto had then begun training Sarutobi Konohamaru to be his successor. That was the last straw for Sasuke. He knew that if this continued, he would never become Hokage. And that would end everything. As long as Naruto remained the Hokage, his ambitions and goals would never be full-filled. He decided to take matters into his own hands. He attacked and killed Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi. Sasuke knew that Naruto cared deeply for the two of them. Sakura was his first love, who later became a sister figure for Naruto. Kakashi was Naruto's sensei and one of the few people Naruto looked up to. He then sent a note to Naruto telling him to meet him at the Valley of the End, where they would fight one last time._

AT THE VALLEY OF THE END (present time)

Two figures were standing at top the two statues. Both bleeding profusely and panting hard. They had been fighting for five days continuously with neither coming out on top. On top of Madara's head stood, Uchiha Sasuke. His armor had been destroyed. His cloak with the Uchiha crest was in tatters. He currently stood with shirtless with black anbu pants. On top of Hashirama's head stood Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage. His bright orange shirt was totally burnt off. His red cloak with black flames that had the crest of the Uzumaki clan on his right shoulder, the kanji for sage on the left shoulder and the kanji for the Rokudaime Hokage on his back printed similar to that of his father, the Yondaime, had three holes and was lying on the water. He currently stood wearing just his mesh armor and his orange pants. The two of them just had enough strength left in them for one final attack.

"I finally understand why Madara did what he did all those years ago. Back then I had only heard Hashirama's side of the story." Sasuke said.

"Why Sasuke? After all we have been through. Why?" Naruto asked him one final time.

"You'll never understand. Let's end this. This has gone long enough. I know you only have the strength for one final attack. So do I. I am going to attack you with my final most powerful technique. Let's see who the stronger one among us is. And don't you dare hold back. I know you pulled back your Rasengan during our last fight here. If you dare to hold back on me, I will finish off what I started and I'll kill all your wives and the rest of your friends." Sasuke said.

"Fine." Naruro replied. He knew he didn't have a choice here. He had to fight to kill Sasuke this time.

Naruto went into Biju Mode and then entered his Sage Mode. He then started creating his Bijudama. He then infused it with his wind element and water element which started rotating around the Bijudama giving the appearance of a miniature Saturn.

Sasuke activated his Susanoo and covered his blade with the flames of Amaterasu. He then infused lightning chakra into the blade which made the blade look like it was covered with blue and black flames that were producing an electrifying sound.

Sasuke screamed, "This is it, then. Narutooooo."

"Sasukeeee."

The two of them jumped towards each other as their attack clashed. Their attacks destroyed the entire valley including the two statues. They were then surrounded by a black orb, similar to the one in their first clash, only much bigger that it could be seen from Konoha.

When Naruto finally woke up, he was lying on a bed. He checked with his tenant. He found Kurama also sleeping due to nearly complete depletion of chakra. He couldn't move his arms. He looked up and he recognized the ceiling. He was in the Konoha Hospital. He couldn't move any part of his body. He couldn't even move his neck to check out his surroundings. With Sakura dead, he expected Moegi or Tsunade to be the one treating him.

Suddenly the door opened and a nurse he came in. He knew he had seen her face but she looked much younger than he remembered. She saw him and her eyes widened "You're awake!" she screamed.

Naruto tried to reply but she immediately ran out. He made a mental note to tell Moegi about her rude behavior when he met her.

After twenty minutes, four people entered the room. Since he couldn't move his neck, he couldn't see who they were. He could only hear their footsteps.

Suddenly, he heard a voice saying, "Who are you? Explain."

Naruto had assumed that he was in Konoha. He hadn't seen this question coming. Besides, there was hardly anyone in any nation who didn't recognize the face of the man who brought peace to the Shinobi world.

The voice asked again, "Who are you?"

"The name is Naruto." replied Naruto, who thought that maybe he was in another village that didn't recognize him. The voice then asked, "Where are you from?"

"Konoha." Naruto replied.

As soon as he replied, there were sudden gasps and muttering going around between the four people.

Then he heard a nostalgic voice. It was the voice of an old man. A voice he hadn't heard in years. "If you are indeed from Konoha, how come I don't know you?"

Naruto was feeling confused and he was irritated. He replied, "Now that depends on who you are."

The old man asked the nurse for permission and asked someone to bend Naruto forward so that he could see him.

Naruto was forcefully bent forward and turned by a man who was wearing a bear faced Anbu mask.

While turning Naruto saw another Anbu wearing a turtle mask and the nurse that had run away from the room earlier and then he saw another man. The words suddenly escaped from his mouth.

"Jiji?"

**Author's Note:**

**I know i ended with a cliff-hanger. Sorry about that. This was my first fan fiction. And I'm really nervous about it. I know there are so many time-travel fan fictions based on Naruto. But i couldn't resist. I sort of re-wrote it. Some changes have been made. Those who follow my story might notice these changes. I made these changes with future chapters in mind.**


	2. Chapter 2-Settling In

**CHAPTER 2: SETTLING IN**

Previous Chapter

_The voice then asked, "Where are you from?"_

"_Konoha." Naruto replied._

_As soon as he replied, there were sudden gasps and muttering going around between the four people._

_Then he heard a nostalgic voice. It was the voice of an old man. A voice he hadn't heard in years. "If you are indeed from Konoha, how come I don't know you?"_

_Naruto was feeling confused and he was irritated. He replied, "Now that depends on who you are."_

_The old man asked the nurse for permission and asked someone to bend Naruto forward so that he could see him._

_Naruto was forcefully bent forward and turned by a man who was wearing a bear faced Anbu mask._

_While turning Naruto saw another Anbu wearing a turtle mask and the nurse that had run away from the room earlier and then he saw another man. The words suddenly escaped from his mouth._

"_Jiji?"_

Sarutobi Hiruzen, a man who was known as the Professor for his great knowledge in Shinobi arts couldn't have been more surprised. The God of Shinobi has been called by many names in his 68 years of life like how his sensei and predecessors, Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama often called him 'Saru' back in the day or how his advisors, Homura, Koharu and Danzo have often called him 'Hiruzen' or how his students, the legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru have often referred to him as 'Sarutobi-sensei'. Most of the others have often called him, 'Sandaime-sama' or 'Hokage-sama'. The only people who had the gall to call the God of Shinobi, 'Jiji' were his own seven year old grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru and his successor Namikaze Minato's eleven year old orphan son, Uzumaki Naruto. This man in front of him said that his name was 'Naruto', referred to him as 'Jiji' and he also mentioned that he is from Konoha. Upon taking a closer look at the man's face, he noticed several features that were unique to the village's most notorious prankster. The six whisker marks-three on each side, the bright blond hair, and the blue eyes were exactly the same. He was also wearing orange pants just like the prankster. Hiruzen had just met the blond prankster to give him his monthly pocket money earlier in the day and was trying to recall every little bit of the child's unique features. No matter how hard he looked, the man in front of him was looking like an older version of the troublesome prankster.

Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, the man at the other end of the staring contest couldn't believe his very own eyes. In front of him stood the man who was like a grandfather to him, a man who had died when he was just thirteen years old, someone whom he had sorely missed later on in his life. He had met the reanimated version of the old-man during the Fourth Great Shinobi War, but they didn't have the time to chat. They had a major battle to fight against Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Obito. However, the man in front of him was no edo-tensei. He was a living version of the Sandaime Hokage. He knew he wasn't under a Genjutsu. After learning and mastering Fuuinjutsu after the Fourth Great Shinobi War, he created several anti-Genjutsu seals and placed them on every Biju and himself. He couldn't sell them to anyone else, because it required a lot of chakra to handle the seal. So only a Jinchuuriki or a Biju could handle the seal.

The question that was running in both their minds was 'How?'. The God of Shinobi wanted to confirm the identity of the one in front of him. He decided to ask him some random questions.

"What is your full name?" Hiruzen asked.

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto replied.

When Hiruzen heard 'Namikaze', he wasn't sure how to take it. If this person indeed was Naruto, he knew who his father was. Hiruzen had always wondered how Naruto would take it, when he would eventually come to know that his father was indeed 'The Yondaime Hokage'. And if he wasn't Naruto, then it presented a risk, since he couldn't have any other village, particularly Iwa knowing that The Yellow Flash's son was still very much alive. The boy was far from ready to face such a risk. The boy was capable of painting the Hokage monument in broad daylight and send the Anbu, the Jounins and the Chunins on a wild goose chase while wearing bright 'kill-me' orange clothes. But taking on assassins and Oinins would have to wait till he had become a legend himself. Hiruzen wanted to wait till the child had turned Chunin.

Hiruzen knew that random questions won't get him the answer he was looking for. He told the Anbu and the nurse in the room that presence of the patient and his identity is to be a SS-rank secret. He then told the Anbu, Turtle to get Yamanaka Inoichi into the room immediately.

When Turtle came back with Inoichi, Hiruzen continued, "Tell me a bit about yourself and what was the last thing you remember doing?"

Naruto was someone who was easily confused. Usage of a few intelligent words was more than enough to frustrate and confuse Naruto. When the Sandaime Hokage, started asking questions, he knew instinctively that it would better to answer those questions than refuse to do so. He may have been the Rokudaime Hokage who held the title of the strongest Hokage of all time, but he certainly wasn't the smartest Hokage of all time unlike the man in front of him. Naruto was totally confused and if anyone could tell him what was going on, it was the man in front of him. Besides, with both Kurama and himself suffering from severe chakra depletion and injuries, he knew that it would be weeks before he would be able to resist anything that the old-man in front of him could do.

"My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure. I am the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato and the Akai Chishio no Habanero, Uzumaki Kushina. I am the Jinchuuriki of Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune and I am the student of Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya of the Sannin. I am currently 21 years old. The last thing I remember was fighting Uchiha Sasuke at the Valley of the End. Sasuke killed two people who were very important to me and was threatening to kill every single person I cared about. He wanted to be Hokage himself and hated that I was chosen ahead of him to be the Hokage. I had to put an end to his crimes. We fought at the Valley of the End. Our final attacks clashed and then I found myself waking up here while I've no idea what happened to him." Naruto replied.

After hearing Naruto's explanation, Hiruzen was totally taken aback. The Naruto he knew had always spoken about how he wanted to take his hat from him. Hiruzen also knew that 'The Will of Fire' was extremely large inside Naruto. However, his grades were extremely low and often Hiruzen had found himself wondering if the child was indeed the son of his successor. The explanation regarding Uchiha Sasuke made Hiruzen sad. Ever since his clan's annihilation, the young Uchiha had always distanced himself from others. He wanted the last of the Uchiha clan to remain faithful to the village like his older brother, Itachi and never get sucked in to the hate and anger of the Uchiha clan.

Inoichi was looking wide-eyed at Naruto. He couldn't believe a single thing he was hearing. He had just heard that the boy who was being treated as the village pariah was not only the son of one of his best friends from his academy days but also was the same man sitting right in front of him. He had heard from his daughter, Ino that the boy was a loud blithering idiot who couldn't even perform a Bunshin and was the dead-last in the class. 'There is no way that the same boy became the Rokudaime Hokage.' He was telling himself.

Hiruzen got over his shock and asked him, "Will you willingly subject yourself to the Yamanaka clan's mind reading technique?"

Naruto replied "Sure. Go ahead Inoichi-oyaji".

As Inoichi did the hand seals, Hiruzen placed his hand on Inoichi's head. When Inoichi looked at him questioningly, Hiruzen said, "I trust you, Inoichi. But I want to see everything for myself too. It's not everyday, you come across someone who appears to be a time-traveller after all."

Three hours later, Inoichi fell on the floor, looking tired and drained of chakra while Hiruzen opened his eyes and looked at Naruto totally shocked. For five minutes nobody moved or said anything. Then suddenly like an ice-breaker came the voice of Iruka that could be heard all over Konoha, "NARUTOOOOOOOOOOO. GET BACK HERE AT ONCE."

The younger Naruto had apparently gotten Iruka to suffer from a nose-bleed using his 'Oiroke-no-Jutsu' and had run away from the academy.

That's when the older Naruto realized that his younger version was currently alive in this time-line and had just played a prank on Iruka-sensei. Naruto asked Hiruzen, "So how old am I in this timeline?"

Hirzen replied, "Eleven and as you probably know already more mischievous than ever." Naruto chuckled at Hiruzen's reply.

Hiruzen looked at the nurse and told her to continue treating Naruto and report to him when Naruto had recovered. He then looked at Inoichi and told him about everything he had just seen and heard being a SS-rank secret. He asked Bear to watch over and guard Naruto and left with Inoichi and Turtle.

Naruto was expected to recover in a month. But thanks to Kurama recovering within a week, Naruto's recovery took only another one week. The nurse reported Naruto's recovery to the Hokage who entered the room where he found Naruto doing some stretches.

Looking at Naruto, Hiruzen asked him, "So how are you feeling?"

Naruto replied, "Just great dattebayo. Can't wait to have some ramen from Ichiraku's." Hiruzen simply laughed at Naruto's answer and said, "Ramen will have to wait. We can't have two blond, blue eyed, ramen lovers with whisker marks eating twenty bowls of ramen at a time now, can we? Besides, we have some more talking to do."

Naruto groaned and said, "Fine. I'll do a henge. Besides, I don't have any money right now. What else do you want to know? I thought you went through my whole mind about two weeks ago."

Hiruzen smiled at him and said, "Yes, we saw through quite a lot. But not everything. We saw your entire battle with Sasuke, and how you indeed were the Rokudaime Hokage in you time-line. The mind reading technique requires a lot of chakra and Inoichi was totally drained. We had seen enough to believe who you are and how you appeared here. I believe due to insane amount of power and chakra in your attacks, the two of you created an extremely large and powerful worm hole that sucked both of you into a different time. I believe your tenant would be able to explain what happened after that. Because the last thing we saw was your body entering an infinite space alongside Sasuke's body upon which you lost consciousness. Sasuke on the other hand was dead. I think your tenant took control after that because he was yelling your name as you fell unconscious."

Naruto was a little relieved and sad at the same time that Sasuke had died. While it meant that Sasuke wouldn't be able to torment his wives or his friends, it also meant that his best friend had died and was now probably lost in space if his body wasn't found by the Konoha shinobi.

Inside Naruto's mindscape, Kurama began saying, **"AFTER YOU LOST CONSCIOUSNESS, I TOOK CONTROL OF YOUR BODY. I GATHERED CHAKRA FOR A WHILE TILL MY CHAKRA WAS FULL. BY THE TIME I HAD GATHERED ENOUGH CHAKRA, SASUKE'S BODY WAS SOMEWHERE ELSE, TOTALLY LOST IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. THEN I RELEASED ALL MY CHAKRA IN A SINGLE ROAR THAT MANAGED TO CREATE A CRACK IN THE SPACE THROUGH WHICH YOUR BODY MANAGED TO SLIP OUT. EVENTUALLY I HAD ONLY AS MUCH CHAKRA AS A HUMAN BABY, WHICH WAS WHY I FELL ASLEEP FOR A WEEK."**

When Naruto explained to Hiruzen about what Kurama did, Hiruzen said, "So you survived only because you had the Kyuubi sealed inside you."

Kurama yelled triumphantly at Naruto, **"HEAR THAT KIT, YOU OWE ME BIG YET AGAIN. YOU SURVIVED ONLY BECAUSE OF ME, SEE. KURAMA-107 NARUTO-0."**

Naruto replied, 'Shut up, Baka-Kurama. I know that already. Besides, we both would have died if it weren't for you and your chakra. So it is still Kurama-0 Naruto-0.'

"**HUH, UNGRATEFUL KIT. YOU KEEP YOUR COUNT AND I'LL KEEP MINE. BESIDES I DON'T THINK YOUR COUNT WILL EVER MOVE FROM KURAMA-0 NARUTO-0."** Kurama muttered.

Naruto then looked at Hiruzen and realized he had just missed something that Hiruzen said while he was talking with Kurama. So Naruto apologized to him, "Sorry, I was talking with Kurama. So I really didn't hear what you said."

Hiruzen sighed and said, "I asked what do you intend to do now? We don't know any possible way of sending you back to your own time. By the way, I understand by Kurama, you are talking about the Kyuubi no Kitsune. How is that working for you? I saw that you were working perfectly with him. But you can't blame an old man for getting a little paranoid. The last time I saw him; he was destroying my village and killing many civilians."

Naruto replied, "I would like to continue as a shinobi. I managed to fight and bring peace in my time-line. I might as well do it again here by sacrificing fewer lives this time around. I also want to help my younger self. I went through a lot of pain in my life time. I don't want to see my younger self going through the same things I went through. As far as Kurama is concerned, well he is alright. We work really well together. If you want you can talk to him."

Naruto then closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, they were red in color. They glared at Hiruzen and unleashed some killing intent. The God of Shinobi stepped back upon seeing the sight. The Naruto with the red eyes then said, **"WHAT DO YOU THINK SARUTOBI HIRUZEN? YOU DIDN'T THINK THE SEAL WOULD HOLD UP FOREVER DID YOU. THE BRAT IS UNDER MY CONTROL NOW, HAHAHAHA."**

Hiruzen paled and suddenly felt as though his worst fears had just been realized.

Suddenly Naruto with the red eyes snorted and started laughing. A more honest and less evil laugh compared to the earlier one. **"HAHAHAHA. DID YOU FORGET EVERYTHING OLD MAN? I WAS JUST MESSING WITH YOU. AS THE KIT SAID, WE WORK TOGETHER REALLY WELL NOW. THE KIT'S FRIENDS ARE MY FRIENDS AND THE KIT'S ENEMIES ARE MY ENEMIES. MAN, YOU ARE EASY. KURAMA-1 HIRUZEN-0. HAHAHAHA."**

Hiruzen just stared at him open mouthed for a while before regaining control of himself. When he saw that Hiruzen no longer looked shaken up, Kurama said, **"AS FAR AS OUR LAST ENCOUNTER IS CONCERNED, WELL THE KIT WILL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. THEN YOU'LL UNDERSTAND ABOUT MINATO'S ACTIONS AS WELL."**

So saying he closed his eyes. When he opened them, they were blue again and it was Naruto talking. "Jiji, about the incident. Well it wasn't exactly Kurama who attacked the village. He was under a Genjutsu."

Naruto then explained the entire story and how a certain Uchiha wearing a mask appeared when his mother was giving birth to him and about how he heard all this from his mother who had appeared when he was trying to control Kurama. Naruto decided to avoid mentioning Uchiha Obito's name to Hiruzen, since it would only cause him a lot of grief and pain to know that one of the few heroes of the Uchiha clan was also a traitor. Naruto knew that he would have to deal with Obito himself eventually. He also knew that the knowledge of Obito's existence and the fact that Obito was responsible for the Kyuubi incident and the Yondaime's death would kill Kakashi inside out, if he ever came to know about it. Especially since Kakashi had never really forgiven himself for Obito's and Rin's death. If Kakashi knew that Rin's death by his own hands was the reason why Obito turned evil, then Kakashi would probably kill himself. The only reason Kakashi could handle it during the war was because Naruto was fighting alongside him. By then he saw the old Obito's will inside Naruto.

After hearing the story, Hiruzen asked Naruto, "Who is this masked man?"

Naruto replied, "He was the student of Uchiha Madara. He is an Uchiha himself. He calls himself Tobi."

Hiruzen thought for a while and said, "We never had an Uchiha Tobi. So who was he really?"

Naruto replied, "He had a scarred face when we broke his mask. Besides, does it really matter who he is? He is the man responsible for the near destruction of the village. He always wore an orange mask with a spiral. The mask had one eye-hole and it had a Mangekyo Sharingan. As far as abilities are concerned, he could make himself intangible and solid as and when he wished. He could also teleport from one place to another, anytime he wanted to."

Hiruzen thought for a while and then said, "I see."

Hiruzen then decided to drop the subject and asked him, "So what about your cover story. We can't have you appearing out of nowhere. Danzo and the others will start asking questions. We both know that you don't intend to stay low for too long. Then there is the issue of your name and appearance. What do you want to do about these things?"

Naruto thought for a while and said, "From my time as Hokage, I know that the files related to Oinin and spies are for Hokage's eyes only. So how about creating a fake identity that says I am an Oinin named Hakuza Itane, who just retired from being an Oinin and a spy and has become a Jounin because my identity has been compromised. As far as my appearance is concerned, I think if I dye my hair red, get rid of my whisker marks and also change the color of my eyes into violet, it should be fine. Since unlike regular Henge, which is a Genjutsu, my Henge is Real Henge, which is a Ninjutsu, no anti-Genjutsu expert will be able to see through my Henge. I'll also trim the beard that I've grown while being cooped up here in the hospital into a small goatee and dye it red. Back in my time, I created a seal that masks chakra. So while I will have the chakra of a Jinchuuriki, even a Hyuuga won't be able to tell that because of the seal. Since I no longer have a seal in my stomach, my chakra signature is different from my chibi version that is running around in the village. Even my smell is different. When I first used Kurama's chakra and fought, both Kiba and Neji noticed that both my smell and chakra signature were different and then they had to memorize my scent and chakra signature. When I got rid of the seal completely, my scent and chakra signature changed again. Even if I'm not using Kurama's chakra, my scent and chakra signature has now become totally different from what it was originally. So unless anyone conducts a blood test or till my younger version and the Kurama inside him start working together, no one should be able to identify me as Uzumaki Naruto. That should be enough to take care of my cover."

Once Hiruzen got him what he needed, Naruto got to work and changed his appearance completely. He looked so different from normal, that even Hiruzen could no longer call him Naruto. Hiruzen then asked him about the reason behind his name and appearance.

Naruto replied, "After knowing my heritage, everyone has told me that I look exactly like my father. So I decided to take up my mother's appearance this time. After all she had beautiful long red hair and violet eyes." He paused for a while before continuing, "The name, Hakuza Itane comes from four people whom I met in my life and had immense respect for; Yuki Haku, Momichi Zabuza, Uchiha Itachi and Huuga Neji."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and then said, "You do realize that Zabuza is an A-rank missing ninja of Kirigakure and Uchiha Itachi is a S-rank missing ninja of Konoha who killed his entire clan, don't you?"

Naruto looked seriously at the old man and said, "Jiji, Zabuza and Haku were the ones who made me realize my nindo. As far as Itachi is concerned, I know the truth about him. I've nothing but immense respect for Itachi because I doubt that I would be able to do what he did. His sacrifice and his life as a ninja were truly splendid. He was an amazing ninja till the very end. Neji sacrificed his life for me. He was a true genius right till the very end. Back in my time, I had to marry four wives from different countries due to CRA and village alliances that were being created. If I had children I would have named my children after each one of them and my parents."

Hiruzen stared open-mouthed at Naruto for a while before breaking into a smile. He then asked, "Itane-kun, you mentioned that you want to help Naruto. Why? If the kid is going to turn out like you, I would rather have him continue doing whatever he wants to do and let life take its course with him."

Naruto replied, "His life is far from good and sweet. Besides, he should be ready for what is going to come. The Akatsuki will hunt him. They are a group of ten S-ranked ninja including Itachi and Orochimaru. Right now though, Naruto is lonely. He just wants to show everyone that he exists and that is why he wears bright orange and plays pranks. I want to try and get rid of his loneliness and make him stronger at the same time."

Hiruzen looked sadly at Naruto for a while and then suddenly smiled and asked, "Now that you mention it, even you were wearing orange pants when we found you. So looks like you haven't dropped the color yet, huh?"

Naruto chuckled at the question and then said, "Till I was 17 and the Akatsuki were finally defeated, I wore orange. After that I was made Jounin, so I had to wear the dark blue Jounin attire with the green vest. When I was appointed Hokage, I dropped the Jounin attire and wore black and orange clothes again with my red haori. The reason I wore the orange was because, I remembered being asked by my mother when I met her while trying to gain control over Kurama's chakra, what the byproduct of the Akai Chishio no Habanero and the Kiroi Senko is. My answer was 'The Orange Hokage' dattebayo."

Hiruzen chuckled at the answer and gave Naruto his Jounin attire. Naruto simply went to the bathroom to change his clothes.

After Naruto had worn his Jounin uniform, Hiruzen smiled and said, "You no longer look like Uzumaki Naruto, Hakuza Itane-kun. Now you need to debrief me on your abilities."

Naruto looked at a mirror and checking how he looked before answering, "My main techniques are the Kage Bunshin, the Rasengan and so many of its variants that I created, the Hiraishin and its perfected version, the elemental Rasengans and the Bijuu-dama and its variants. My Taijutsu style is based on the Kawaze Kumite that I learnt at Mount Myouboku. I've also got four other styles. One that I created with Jiraiya that uses clones and aides my natural unpredictability, another that I created by combining the Gai's Goken, the Hyuuga's Jyuken and the Uchiha's Interceptor fist, which I call the Mixed fist, a style that involves me using Fuinjutsu and mixing them with my Taijustu called the Suppression fist and finally a fourth that I created for pure Taijutsu spars without using clones called the Counter fist. My Genjutsu is almost non-existent, but I can dispel Genjutsu of any level thanks to my partner, Kurama. The only Genjutsu techniques that I can use is Kokouangyo no jutsu, because of the chakra requirement for the jutsu. I spent some time in the Anbu so I can use Kenjutsu. My Kenjutsu would be around high-Jounin level. I'm a Fuinjutsu master. As far as Ninjutsu is concerned, I can use all five elements. My main affinity is wind and my secondary is water. I can use C-rank, B-rank, A-rank, and S-rank techniques with all the elements and SS-rank with only wind and water. My techniques get further enhanced if I use Kurama's chakra. Even without the Hiraishin, if I were to use Kurama's chakra, I am the fastest shinobi in all elemental nations. I can also use the Gama-Sennin mode and I summon toads."

Hiruzen was certainly impressed and his face showed it. Never in his wildest dreams, had he ever imagined the goofy knuckle-headed Naruto to have mastered so many techniques. Before he could say something, Naruto suddenly interrupted him.

"Jiji, I don't think the Gama contract is valid anymore since my younger self hasn't signed it yet and my contract was from a different timeline."

Hiruzen immediately understood the problem. He thought for a while before biting his thumb and doing the seals, boar-dog-bird-monkey-ram and summoned Enma the Monkey king.

"**Why have you summoned me in a hospital, Sarutobi", **the Monkey king asked.

Hiruzen and Naruto explained their entire story to Enma. Enma smiled at Naruto and said, **"Sign the Saru contract and you will be able to summon us anytime you want. The Saru-sennin mode is attained the same way as the Gama-sennin mode by drawing-in nature energy. Instead of your pupils, nose and feet changing into that of a toad's, your hair will grow till it reaches your back and your beard will just grow till you have a complete beard. Your personal familiar will be an ape named Kong. He will be able to transform into a staff like me if necessary to further aid you in your combat. Now why don't you try signing the contract and summoning Kong."**

Hiruzen placed the scroll in front of Naruto as he signed his name with his blood and then summoned Kong. Kong was a little bigger than Enma in size and had black hair instead of Enma's white. Like Enma, Kong wore a Konoha hitai-ate on his fore head and wore a black armor. He looked at Hiruzen, Enma and the summoning scroll with the new signature. He then looked at his summoner and then smiled and said, **"So, you are our new summoner and I suppose I am to be your familiar. If Enma-sama has given you the permission to summon us, that is fine with me. Call me whenever you need me. But before that we will have to train together to get used to each other. If that's all you need me for, I'll take my leave now, Naruto." **before disappearing with a smoke.

Naruto then tried using Sage Mode. His new red hair didn't grow at all. He had markings around his eyes which signified Sage-hood. However unlike in Gama-Sennin mode, where the markings would be orange, or in Hashirama's Sennin mode, where the markings were in black, in Naruto's Saru-Sennin mode, the markings were chocolate brown in color. Both Enma and Hiruzen looked impressed with Naruto's new Saru-Sennin mode. Enma then smiled and said, **"I'm truly impressed. I never thought that your Sennin mode would be of higher caliber than Jiraiya's Sennin mode. The markings around the eyes are the true proof of Sage-hood and no monkey features at all. Truly very impressive indeed. I would love to see more but I've already spent too much time here. Good luck kid. See you around Saru." **Before disappearing with another smoke.

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and then asked, "You mentioned that you perfected the Hiraishin. What do you mean by that?"

Naruto grinned before saying, "The Hiraishin has two weaknesses. First, it requires a kunai and different shaped one at that. Second, it is quite predictable, if you know where the seals are." He paused before continuing. "In my version, all I've to do is open a scroll. The scroll distributes invisible Hiraishin seals over every single inch of land in a hundred meter radius. In other words, if my enemy is within a hundred meter radius from me, I can have seals planted all over his body. So I can just teleport to any point on his body."

Hiruzen stood open mouthed. His predecessor, Senju Tobirama had created the technique. His successor, Namikaze Minato had taken the technique to what he had thought was the highest possible level. Now his successor's son had taken the technique to a whole another level, one that he could have never even imagined.

Naruto decided to wait till Hiruzen was out of the shocked state. When Hiruzen finally found his voice again, he asked, "You said you are a Fuinjutsu master. The last true master was Minato. Even Jiraiya is nowhere near that level. So how did you master Fuinjutsu?"

Naruto smiled and said, "Jiji, perhaps you have forgotten who my parents were. After I turned 17 and became a Jounin, I asked the Godaime Hokage for my inheritance. When I went to my home, I found the Hiraishin scroll and Uzumaki Fuinjutsu scroll locked away with blood seals which I opened. So you could say that they were part of my inheritance."

To say the Sandaime was impressed at the prowess of the Rokudaime would be an understatement. Having heard the extent of his abilities, Hiruzen had no doubt that the man in front of him was the strongest Kage of all time, even stronger than the so called 'Gods of Shinobi', Senju Hashirama and himself in their primes. He then asked, "Where do you want to stay? You could stay at your parent's place without anyone knowing if you wanted."

Naruto looked at Hiruzen with a sad smile before saying, "That's part of Naruto's inheritance now. It is no longer mine. I go by the name of Hakuza Itane now. Not Uzumaki Naruto."

Hiruzen look sadly at the young man who he knew had been through a lot. Naruto thought for a while before saying, "Say Jiji, I believe the apartment next to Uzumaki Naruto is vacant. Since people don't want to live anywhere near the Demon child, why don't you give me that apartment? I also need some cash. I don't have any for food and equipment. I'll start taking assignments from next week onwards. Till then I would like to spend some quality time with Naruto."

Hiruzen smiled and said, "Sure. Just come to my office and collect the keys after lunch. By then, I'll have everything ready." before disappearing with a twirl of leaves.

Naruto then got out of the office to begin a new life as Hakuza Itane.

Hakuza Itane walked down the familiar roads of Konoha before reaching Ichiraku's. Seated in front of him was a young blond wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. Looking at the younger version of himself, Itane couldn't help but recall his childhood memories. He realized that most of his good memories were at Ichiraku's. He approached the blond kid who was into his ninth bowl and said, "Nine bowls. Not bad, kid." The blond prankster looked up at the red haired man with a red goatee and violet eyes and said with a smile, "I've just started. There is no way I'm going to stop with just nine bowls of God's gift to us, unworthy mortals."

The older man approached the younger child and said, "Let us see. Who can eat more? Me or You?"

The eleven year old child's eyes widened and an evil grin appeared on his face as he said, "You're on."

When the Ramen eating contest ended, the blond kid had eaten twenty three bowls while the red head had finished twenty nine bowls. Naruto along with the Chef, Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame were looking at the red head with widened eyes. Never had they seen anyone who could more ramen than Naruto. Teuchi couldn't believe his luck. A customer with more ramen eating capacity than Naruto; This new customer and Naruto alone could make his business flourish to great unimaginable heights. His eyes turned into ryo signs as he began thanking whichever God it was that brought Naruto and this man into his restaurant.

Naruto looked at the man next to him and asked, "Who are you, Ni-san? I haven't seen you around. You ate more ramen than me. Not even Chouji can do that. How did you do it? I've never seen you anywhere near Ichiraku's before."

Itane looked at the young blond who was pouting which clearly showed that he hated being bested at only thing besides pranking in which he had been the best in the village. Itane smiled at him and said, "My name is Hakuza Itane. I'm your new neighbor. I'm a Jounin who used to do a lot of missions away from the village. I've just come back after a very long time. That's why you haven't seen me around. During my time away from the village, I ate lots of ramen. For the past two weeks, I've been stuck in the hospital. The hospital food is horrible and I needed to vent. Besides, I'm a lot older, bigger and stronger than you. So, I should naturally be able to eat a lot more than you, Naruto-kun."

Upon hearing his name, Naruto immediately asked, "How do you know my name, Itane-san?"

Itane replied, "Sandaime-sama told me that my neighbor, Uzumaki Naruto is an eleven year old who would be wearing bright orange clothes and eating around twenty bowls of ramen."

Naruto grinned at Itane and said, "Yup, that's me. See you later Itane-san." before running away excited at the prospect of getting a new neighbor who seemed friendly enough, was a Jounin and didn't glare at him. 'Maybe I could ask him to teach me something. Maybe that pain in the ass Bunshin jutsu' Naruto thought as he ran back home to clean his apartment. He wanted to make a good impression on his new neighbor.

Itane smiled as the young blond version of himself ran away while Kurama was muttering in his mindscape, **"LOTS OF WORK TO DO."**

After lunch, Itane went to the Sandaime's office, from where he collected his apartment keys and some money to buy food, weapons and equipment.

He then went to the Higurashi weapon's store, where he was greeted by the owner's daughter, Higurashi Tenten. He purchased several kunai, shuriken, makibishi, senbon, sealing scrolls, a katana, lots of ink, chakra blades, explosion tags, sealing tags and a tanto. He checked the quality of each item in detail before buying them. Tenten was impressed with Itane's eye for quality. Soon they were engaged in a conversation regarding weapons.

After Itane bought his weapons and other equipment, he got himself some clothes. He then had dinner and went to sleep in his new apartment. He told himself, 'Tomorrow is a Sunday and that means the academy would be closed. So tomorrow I'll begin training Naruto.'

**Author's notes: I had to break my head to get the name Hakuza Itane. Hope you guys like it. As far as the summoning contract and the Saru sennin-mode is concerned. I figured that if Naruto has to use sennin-mode, he'll need the toad contract. He can't just summon toads out of nowhere. In fact nothing of that sort would be possible without Jiraiya's help. So I had him sign the Saru summoning contract with the help of Hiruzen and Enma. As far as Kong was concerned, once again, I had to break my head over it. Yes, King Kong was what inspired me into creating the ape named Kong. I've re-written the second chapter as well. I originally had the name as Zabuha Itane. A reviewer suggested that Hakuza would be much more appropriate than Zabuha. Hope you really enjoy this chapter and plz do tell if you like it or not.**


	3. Chapter 3-The Older and Younger duo

**CHAPTER 3: THE OLDER AND THE YOUNGER DUO**

Hakuza Itane woke up at four in the morning. Within another half an hour, he freshened up and went out to train. He knew that his new neighbor, Naruto would be asleep till atleast ten on Sundays, since he didn't have to go to the academy, which gave him enough time to have a good workout, bath and also enough time to meet up with the Hokage. He wanted to discuss his plans regarding Naruto and Mizuki with the Hokage before meeting up with Naruto.

Itane went to training ground 44, the Forest of Death. He placed some seals to ensure that he wouldn't be disturbed by any creature while training. He started his work out with regular physical exercises and some chakra control exercises, which were followed by some elemental training and some Kenjutsu practice. Thanks to his Kage-Bunshin, he managed to finish of all this training in less than two hours. After resting for another 15 minutes, he summoned Kong for training. The training lasted another two hours, before he decided to call it quits. He hurried back into his apartment and took a bath before changing into his Jounin outfit, having some breakfast and heading to the Hokage tower by 9:30.

When he saw Itane entering his office, Hiruzen sent his Anbu guards away and activated the silencing seal in his office with a few hand signs. Hiruzen then asked Itane, "What brings you to my office at this time of the day, Itane-kun? I thought you were going to take care of Naruto for a week before requesting missions. "

"Yes, that was and still is the plan. However, I want to discuss certain things with you before I began his training." Itane replied.

"And what might that be?" Hiruzen asked questioningly before asking, "Does this have to do with the future?"

Itane replied, "Yes, it does. I guess I should start by saying that I failed my graduation three times because each time there was one jutsu that I couldn't get to do no matter how much I tried. It may sound funny but even now, I find that particular jutsu to be the hardest to perform."

Upon hearing Itane's confession, Hiruzen's eyebrows rose up in shock. In front of him stood a man who found S-rank jutsu like Hiraishin and A-rank jutsu like the Rasengan to be much easier than a simple academy level jutsu.

Itane seemed to read his mind. He smiled and said, "That's right, Jiji. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't perform the simple Bunshin no jutsu. I couldn't perform the Bunshin no jutsu because it requires far too less chakra. But as I told you yesterday, I can easily perform the Kage-Bunshin no jutsu. The Kage-Bunshin no jutsu, as you are surely aware, is not taught at the academy, since it is a Kinjutsu that requires immense chakra reserves to perform and would even kill an average Gennin. I learnt how to perform the Kage-Bunshin no jutsu from the Scroll of Seals kept in your office."

Hiruzen's eyes widened upon hearing Itane's words. He couldn't help but ask, "How did you get your hands on the Scroll of Seals? It is for Hokage's eyes only. And why would you do that? I doubt you would seek the Scroll of Seals simply to learn the Kage-Bunshin no jutsu."

Itane smile disappeared as he said, "Exactly Jiji, I was manipulated. After failing the third time, a certain instructor from the academy, Mizuki Touji told me that I could pass the graduation exam if I could steal the Scroll of Seals from your office and learn a technique from it. So I entered your office, knocked you out using my Oiroke no jutsu, stole of Scroll of Seals and ran into the forest." Hiruzen couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself for letting himself get knocked out by such a technique.

"Within another hour, I managed to master the Kage-Bunshin no jutsu before Iruka-sensei found me and learnt the truth about Mizuki's little scheme. Mizuki wanted to leave the village with the scroll and join hands with Orochimaru. He wanted to have me blamed for the incident and have me killed since he hated me. Mizuki managed to find both me and Iruka-sensei and attacked us. That was when he revealed the S-class secret regarding the Kyuubi to me. Mizuki then tried to kill me with a Fuuma-Shuriken but Iruka-sensei covered me and took the Fuuma-Shuriken on his back. After that I used the Kage-Bunshin no jutsu, created hundreds of clones and kicked Mizuki-teme's ass." Itane finished.

After hearing the story, Hiruzen looked at Itane and asked, "Everything seemed to have ended pretty well then. So what is the problem?"

Itane looked at Hiruzen and replied, "For everything to happen the same way, Naruto should remain the dead-last. If I start training him, he'll get strong. He'll probably be miles ahead of all his peers by the time he graduates from the academy."

Hiruzen sighed understanding the problem, "I see. It is quite the dilemma indeed. Make him go through a lot of pain or be unable to catch some traitors red-handed. So, do you have a solution to the problem?" Hiruzen asked Itane.

Itane gave him a rather evil smile as he said, "Yes Jiji, I do."

Uzumaki Naruto woke up from his bed and looked at his alarm clock. The clock read 10:15. He immediately yelled, "Dammit, I'm late dattebayo." as he ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth and began dressing up only to realize that the day was a Sunday when he glanced at the calendar. He decided to meet his new neighbor, Hakuza Itane and ask him to join him for breakfast at Ichiraku's. When he got out of the room, he noticed that his neighbor's room was locked and he wasn't there in his apartment. He walked to Ichiraku's ignoring the glares he was receiving from the villagers and ordered three bowls of miso ramen. When he was half way through with his third bowl, an Anbu with the bear mask appeared behind him. The Anbu told him that the Hokage wanted him in his office. Naruto couldn't help but wonder 'What does Jiji want with me today?' as he slurped his third bowl of ramen before paying and going with the Anbu to the Hokage tower.

He entered the office and shouted, "What do you want with me today, Jiji?"

It was then that Naruto noticed his new neighbor whom he met at Ichiraku's the previous night, Hakuza Itane seated in the office. He smiled at his neighbor and said, "I wanted to invite you to join me for breakfast at Ichiraku's, Itane-san. But your door was locked. So I thought I'll invite you later. So would you join me for lunch at Ichiraku's then, Itane-san?"

Itane sweat-dropped when he realized that his younger self only ate from Ichiraku's throughout the day. Over the years since he became a ninja, he had grown accustomed to cooking his own food and eating from Ichiraku's only once or twice weekly. He smiled at Naruto and said, "Actually you should probably join me for lunch. I'm sure I can cook something for you. Afterall, eating ramen throughout the day cannot be healthy for you."

Inside him Kurama was holding his stomach and laughing while saying, **"SAYS THE RAMEN ADDICT." **Hiruzen was trying his level best to not laugh while thinking the same thing as Kurama. Inside his mindscape, Itane just scowled as he said 'Shut-up Bakarama'.

Naruto on the other hand was really happy. He had never been invited over for lunch by anyone before. He was really looking forward to having lunch at his new neighbor's place. Naruto smiled broadly as he said, "Thank you. I will be there."

Hiruzen then coughed a little to get the attention of both the Narutos. He looked hard at Naruto and said, "Naruto-kun, I actually called you here to discuss a very important matter with you."

Naruto looked at Hiruzen and asked, "Okay, so what's up, Jiji?"

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes as he said, "Naruto, I called you here to give you your first mission."

As soon as Naruto heard those words, he started jumping around, he ran around Hiruzen's desk twice while screaming, "Yattaa, so you finally understood what an amazing ninja I am. It sure took you a long time to understand."

When they saw Naruto dancing around, both Hiruzen and Itane started having second doubts about Itane's little plan. Inside Itane's mindscape, Kurama couldn't help but laugh over little Naruto's antics. Itane was trying to ignore Kurama's laughter while trying his level best not to slam his own head through the wall at his younger self's antics.

Naruto continued jumping around for five minutes before smiling widely at Hiruzen and asking, "So Jiji, what is the mission? Am I going to save a princess or fight some bandits or ninjas?" his eyes shining brightly with excitement.

Hiruzen chuckled before saying, "No. Your mission is to fail the academy graduation exam a third time and to continue acting like an idiot."

Naruto's expressions turned into a scowl as he shouted at Hiruzen, "What do you mean fail the academy graduation exam a third time, Jiji? I already failed twice and I was so looking forward to gradating this time. I can't let Sasuke-teme and the others beat me and become ninjas while I stay at the academy."

That was when Itane decided to interrupt, "So are you sure you can graduate the exam this time around?"

Naruto looked at Itane for a while. He had never seen Itane look so serious before. He was a little taken aback as he knew deep down that he wasn't sure that he would able to graduate even this time. However he yelled back at Itane, "Yes, I am 100% sure that I'll graduate this time."

Itane narrowed his eyes as he said, "Then, why don't you perform the Bunshin no jutsu now in front of me. If you do, we'll give you the Konoha shinobi hitai-ate right here, right now."

Naruto knew that the Bunshin no jutsu was his worst technique. No matter how hard he tried, he could never perform it. But here was a chance, an opportunity to obtain his own hitai-ate. He always wanted one. Iruka-sensei never allowed him to wear his and this was too good an opportunity to pass up. If he got the technique right by some luck, he could get his own hitai-ate and become an official konoha shinobi.

Naruto then did some hand seals and shouted, "Bunshin no jutsu". Three lifeless clones appeared who collapsed and exploded in seconds.

Naruto felt humiliated and embarrassed. It was nothing new to him as he had experienced it before. He was expecting the usual laughter but it never came. He looked up at both Itane and Hiruzen. Both were looking at him with a little smile.

Naruto scowled and looked down as he said, "Fine, I can't perform the jutsu. Are you happy now? But I'm sure I'll have it down before the graduation exams."

That was when Itane said, "No, you won't. And there is a reason you can't perform the Bunshin no jutsu. The reason is because you have too much chakra and no chakra control. Even if you practiced chakra control, you won't be able to create a regular Bunshin for years."

Naruto looked at Itane with wide eyes. Tears were forming on his eyes while he was trying to understand what his neighbor was saying. 'I won't be able to perform the Bunshin technique for years even with chakra control exercises, something I've never even heard of in the academy. If I can't do the Bunshin jutsu, I can never graduate from the academy. And till I graduate from the academy, I can't become a ninja. In other words, I can never become the Hokage and get acknowledged by the villagers. They'll continue to look down on me forever then.'

When Itane saw that Naruto understood his situation, he smiled and said, "However there might be a way around this problem."

Naruto's eyes widened as heard some hope in those words and looked up at Itane. Itane continued as he said, "If I train you, you might become stronger and become a ninja anyway. I could also teach you a variation of the Bunshin no jutsu that is not taught at the academy since it requires too much chakra. I could make you way stronger than the rest of your class before the graduation exams take place."

Naruto wiped the tears from his eyes as he looked up at his neighbor like he was looking at his savior. He then asked his neighbor almost pleadingly, "Will you train me then, Itane-sensei?"

Itane couldn't help but smile widely as Naruto referred to him as 'Itane-sensei'. He dropped his smile and looked at Naruto as he said, "I will. But only under one condition."

Naruto noticed the smile on Itane's face disappearing. But seeing that he didn't have any other choice, he looked at Itane and said, "Anything, sensei. Anything you want."

Itane's smile reappeared as he said, "You must complete the mission Hokage-sama gave you."

Naruto's eye-brows rose up as asked, "Ehh, Nani? You want me to fail my graduation? Why? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

That was when Hiruzen said, "Naruto-kun, we have a traitor in the academy. We aren't sure who he is? All we know is that he wants the Scroll of Seals that contains a lot of dangerous techniques. If an enemy gets his hands on the Scroll, it could be very dangerous for the village. We believe the traitor will approach you at some point and try to use you if you remain the dead-last in the academy."

Naruto was starting to understand the gravity of the situation. But suddenly a question popped up in his head, "Why would he approach me if I'm the dead last in the academy?"

"Because we believe that he hates you and would want you to be caught in the act rather than him." replied Itane.

"But why? Why does he hate me? Why does everyone hate me? I may have done some pranks. But I never did anything that harmful to anyone?" asked Naruto.

Hiruzen sighed. He always knew that he would have to answer to this question at some point in his life. So far he always kept avoiding this question. Whenever it came by, he would just avoid answering the question. But after hearing about the Mizuki incident from Itane, he knew that he would have to tell Naruto before Mizuki did. Thanks to Itane, he knew that Naruto wouldn't hate him or Minato for what they've done. He took a deep breath before asking, "Naruto-kun, what do you know about the Kyuubi incident?"

Naruto was wondering 'What does that have to do with this' but decided to answer anyway, "The Kyuubi attacked our village on October 10th, eleven years ago, on the day that I was born. The Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyuubi and killed it by sacrificing his own life."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto with sad eyes as he said, "Yes. That is indeed the story we told the people to tell to their children. But only half of that story is true. It is true that the Yondaime Hokage defeated the Kyuubi. But he couldn't kill it. The Kyuubi is just a huge mass of chakra. It cannot be killed. So he did the next best thing. He sealed it. It is impossible to seal a being of huge chakra mass like the Kyuubi in scrolls. He could only seal it inside another human being. So he sealed it inside a child. A child born on October 10th, eleven years ago. He sealed it inside you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes widened as he heard the truth from the man who was like a grandfather to him. Then it dawned upon him, why he suffered all along, why everyone seemed to hate him, why the others looked at him with contempt, why they never allowed him in shops, or in restaurants, why they treated him so badly. It all made sense. The words, 'Demon brat' and 'Monster-child' that he had heard so many times kept ringing in his head.

Naruto looked up at his surrogate grandfather as he said, "So, I am the Kyuubi."

That was when Itane interrupted him, "No. You are not the Kyuubi. You are merely his container or rather the 'Jinchuuriki' of the Kyuubi. You are the child to whom the Yondaime Hokage entrusted the task of protecting the village at the cost of his own life. You are the hero of this village, Naruto-kun."

Tears started flowing from Naruto's eyes as he started to cry openly, "If I'm the hero of the village, then why do they treat like I'm a germ, like I'm a nuisance, like I'm something that they don't want in this village? Why do they do that?"

Itane took out his holster and his kunai and said, "Because they don't know the simple difference between a holster and a kunai. You, Naruto are the holster while the Kyuubi is the kunai. Just because the kunai is in the holster doesn't mean that the kunai is the holster."

The explanation made a lot of sense to Naruto as he stopped crying. He wiped his tears. As Itane spoke, "A lot of people lost people who were precious to them during the Kyuubi incident and they could do nothing about it. When they look at you, they are reminded of the fact that the monster that killed their loved ones is alive, trapped inside you. That is why they hate you. Even those who don't hate you avoid you because they didn't want themselves or the ones that they care about to be a subject of their hatred and be called a demon-lover."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto and realized that Naruto was no longer crying. He had recovered from the shock. He then looked at Naruto and told him, "Naruto-kun, just remove your shirt and gather some chakra."

Naruto removed his orange jumpsuit top and started gathering chakra. Both Hiruzen and Itane couldn't help but feel sad for the badly under-nourished child. As Naruto began gathering his chakra, the seal started appearing on his stomach. Hiruzen then told Naruto, "Now look at your stomach."

When Naruto saw the seal, he asked Hiruzen, "How did that appear?"

Hiruzen replied, "That is the seal that holds the Kyuubi. The Yondaime Hokage wanted you to be seen as a hero. That is why he created the seal and died. However, the people of the village in their anger and hatred have forgotten the last wish of the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto couldn't help but feel happy upon hearing that the man he idolized throughout his life, 'The Yondaime Hokage' wanted him to be seen as a hero and trusted him with such an important task. He started feeling a lot more confident and responsible. He looked at the Sandaime Hokage and said, "No matter what, I won't let the Yondaime down."

Hiruzen couldn't have been happier hearing those words. As far as he was concerned the situation couldn't have gone any better. He was glad Itane was there with him, helping him out with the situation.

Naruto sat on the couch and was going through everything he had just said and heard and then a question arose in his head. He asked Hiruzen, "Jiji, why exactly do I have to fail to pass this mission?"

Itane was the one who replied, "Because we don't know when he'll act. We believe it will be after the graduation exam. We need you to be the first and foremost option for someone he could use to get his hands on the Scroll of Seals."

Naruto then asked, "Does this mean that even if I become stronger than my classmates, I'll have to keep losing to them in spars?"

Itane replied, "Unfortunately, yes. You'll have to keep losing to them in spars. You should not show any of the skills you develop. Not even the Taijutsu skills."

Naruto scowled as he said, "Damn. I hate the idea of losing to Sasuke-teme in those academy spars again even if I become stronger than him."

Itane and Hiruzen started laughing loudly as Itane replied, "Don't worry, you can kick his ass plenty after the mission is over and you become Gennin."

Naruto smiled at Itane's reply and thought for a while before asking, "Do you have any idea who this traitor is?"

Itane replied, "No. All we know is that it isn't Umino Iruka. You can trust him. But don't tell even him about this mission."

A smile appeared on Naruto's face. Naruto liked Iruka. He didn't want to be unable to trust him. It made him really happy to know that Iruka wasn't the traitor.

Naruto then smiled broadly as he said, "Then, I accept the conditions. When do we start?"

Itane smiled and said, "We'll have lunch at one in my place. After that we leave to training area 44. No one generally trains in there. It is a rather secluded place from other ninjas. So I got permission from Hokage-sama to use that training ground."

Naruto was really happy. He felt that things are finally going to get a lot better for him. He still had two hours before having to go for lunch. He was thinking about what he should do till then.

Suddenly Itane said, "First, we need to get you changed. You are not training wearing bright orange. Also we will have to buy some proper ninja tools. Your tools are blunt and overused."

Naruto smiled turned into a scowl as he said, "Why? Why should I change? Orange is a great color. I don't want to spend money unnecessarily on clothes."

Itane remembered Yamato's scary face impression. He changed his facial expressions to appear exactly like Yamato's as he said, "Naruto, training area 44 is also known as 'The Forest Of Death' and it goes by that name for a reason. There are a lot of wild plants and animals in that forest. Your clothes make you look like a bright orange target. Exactly the sort of food those dangerous creatures are looking for. In other words, go with bright orange clothes into the forest of death and you'll die the most horrible and horrifying death."

To say that Naruto was scared was an understatement. The use of Yamato's scary technique combined with the words death, wild, dangerous, horrible and horrifying literally made Naruto pee in his pants.

Kurama and Itane were laughing their asses off in Itane's mindscape. Kurama was complimenting Itane saying, **"THAT WAS AN EXCELLENT YAMATO IMPRESSION. THE MAN WOULD BE PROUD".** While Hiruzen was trying his level best to hold back his laughter. Hiruzen knew exactly whose impression Itane had performed and couldn't help but think that the performance was perfect.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the forests of Hi no kuni, an Anbu suddenly sneezed.

Itane looked at Naruto and told him, "Alright Naruto, do a Henge. Get rid of your whisker marks. Change your clothes into maybe a red shirt and black pants. Change your blond hair and blue eyes to brown hair and black eyes. Maintain your size. As long as they don't recognize you, you won't be stopped from entering any shop."

Naruto was looking at his toad wallet. Naruto hated the idea of spending money needlessly. For the sake of saving money, he often starved himself and never bought new clothes. Seeing Naruto looking at his wallet, Hiruzen said, "Naruto-kun, when you complete this mission, you'll be getting paid for an A-rank mission. Usually this would be a B-rank mission. But since this mission is going to be a little longer than usual, I'll upgrade it to A-rank. Also you don't have to worry about the money you need for the clothes. Just tell them to put it in my tab."

Naruto smiled broadly and hugged the old man and cried, "Thank you, Jiji. You are the best."

Itane and Naruto said their goodbyes to the Hokage as they walked out. As they walked, nobody was glaring at Naruto anymore. He felt like a normal person. But he knew that he wanted to be able to do feel just like that as himself, without a henge. But he knew that for now, atleast till his mission ends, he has to live a lie. This is a part of his life as a ninja.

Itane took Naruto to a ninja clothes shop. Naruto was a little hesitant to enter the shop. He remembered as a child, he wasn't allowed to enter the shop. Now he knew why. Itane started selecting his clothes. Itane gave him some clothes to try on. He went into the trial room and changed into those clothes. Inside the trial room, he dropped his henge and starting wearing the clothes that Itane had given him. He had to admit that they looked really good on him.

He looked at the mirror in the trial room. He was wearing black shinobi pants with a grey hoodie. He was wearing mesh armor underneath his hoodie. Itane also got him some black shinobi sandals and black fingerless gloves. The hoodie had an Uzumaki clan symbol printed on its back.

After admiring his own looks for a while, the blond prankster king of Konoha put back his henge and walked to Itane. They brought five sets of the same clothes.

Itane and Naruto then turned a corner. Itane then told Naruto to wear his hood and drop his henge to which Naruto complied. The hood covered his hair and due to his eyes being on the ground, most of his face was covered. No one knew that Naruto was walking between them. They were too used to seeing him in bright orange clothes, that they couldn't imagine him walking between them wearing grey and black clothes.

Naruto asked Itane, "Why did you tell me to drop the henge?"

Itane replied, "Because we are now going to a weapon's store. The owner is a retired ninja. The owner's daughter is a Gennin. They should be able to see through your henge. Even if they don't, they still are nice people."

They walked to into the Higurashi weapon's store. A girl wearing Chinese clothes with hair tied in buns stood at the counter. As soon as they entered, the girl cheerfully said, "Welcome to Higurashi weapon's store. What can I get you?"

As soon as she saw Itane, she got scared, "Hakuza-san, is anything wrong. You just came and bought equipment yesterday. I'm sure they couldn't have gotten damaged this quickly."

Itane laughed at her reaction and said, "No. Don't worry Tenten-chan, they're doing just fine. I came just to help my young friend here buy some weapons."

Tenten sighed in relief and helped Naruto get some weapons. Itane had Naruto buy whatever he bought the previous day and told Tenten to put them in the Hokage's tab.

After that, Itane bought some groceries including a lot of vegetables and meat. The two of them then went to Itane's apartment after their little shopping spree.

By one, Itane had prepared lunch for the two of them. Itane had cooked some sashimi, yakitori and onigiri for both of them. After lunch, two of them started getting ready for their first training session together.

Itane wore his Jounin attire without his flak jacket while Naruto wore his new clothes. When they reached the forest of death, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed. He got over it soon enough as they entered the forest.

Itane took Naruto a little deep into the forest when he suddenly decided to stop upon reaching a certain clearing. Itane then started placing protection seals over the area. Itane called Naruto over and told him, "The first thing I'm going to teach you is a technique known as Kage-Bunshin no jutsu. Unlike other Bunshin jutsu, this technique requires a large amount of chakra. Even the most impressive Gennin can't make more than two Kage-Bunshin or they'll die due to lack of chakra. Fortunately, you have more reserves than most Jounin. So this technique is going to be pretty easy for you. You only have to use a cross seal and imagine splitting your chakra into different equal parts."

Itane did a ram seal and said, "Kage-Bunshin no jutsu" as five clones of Itane appeared. As soon as Naruto saw the technique, he pumped his fist in the air and yelled, "Awesome."

Naruto got the technique down in just fifteen minutes and within another half an hour, he could perform, the Taju Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu to create over a hundred clones. Naruto then spend the next half an hour jumping up and down celebrating the fact that he finally learnt how to do the Bunshin jutsu which had been a painful thorn in both his graduation exams. After Naruto had calmed down, Itane called him over.

Itane looked at Naruto and said, "Let's create one Kage-Bunshin each." Both made one Kage-Bunshin. After which Itane told Naruto, "Kage-Bunshins move out of the clearing." Naruto was wondering what was going on as Itane's Kage-Bunshin and his own Kage-Bunshin left the clearing and were totally out of sight."

Itane's Kage-Bunshin told Naruto's Kage Bunshin, "Tomorrow, breakfast will be at my place. Now let's dispel." as both the Kage-Bunshin's dispelled.

Naruto was looking at Itane and was wondering if he had gone senile. Suddenly Itane looked at Naruto and asked him, "So what did my Kage-Bunshin tell your Kage-Bunshin?"

"Tomorrow, breakfast will be at your place." replied Naruto.

Itane smiled and said, "Now that is the advantage of Kage-Bunshin. Their memory gets transferred to the main body. The problem with this technique is that their fatigue is also transferred to the main body. Kage-Bunshin no jutsu was first created by the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama-sama as means for information gathering. The reason I taught you the Kage-Bunshin before anything else is because starting from tomorrow, you'll be sending a Kage-Bunshin to the academy to act like an idiot while the original you'll be training with me. Even I don't have endless free-time to keep teaching you. I'll be doing missions from next week onwards. So I've a lot to teach you by that time. To shorten the time required to learn things, we'll be using Kage-Bunshin."

Naruto suddenly interrupted Itane, "Itane-sensei, I understand the experience part. But how will it shorten the time required to learn things?"

Itane sighed as he answered, "If you create one clone and practice techniques using both the clone and the original body, you both will be gaining experience. Now when you dispel the clone, you'll gain double the experience. So you'll be learning the technique twice as fast. Now imagine if you create forty-nine clones. And you practice a technique, using all forty-nine of you and yourself, you'll learn it fifty times faster."

Naruto pumped his hands in the air and jumped while crying out, "Awesome. I'll be super strong in super quick time."

Itane sighed at Naruto's immaturity while Kurama in his mindscape started chuckling, **"I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD EVER GET TO SEE SOMEONE SIGHING AT THEIR OWN IMMATURITY, HAHAHAHA"**

Itane tried to ignore Kurama laughter in the background as he called Naruto over. He looked seriously at Naruto and said, "Yes. You'll get stronger very quickly but don't forget that not even a single soul should know about this. As far as the rest of Konoha is concerned, you don't know how to perform even a single Bunshin. You risk failing the mission which is very important to Konoha if you're seen performing the Kage-Bunshin in front of anyone. Even those that you trust the most like Umino Iruka, Ichiraku Teuchi and Ichiraku Ayame or even those whom you hate the most like Uchiha Sasuke or anyone else for the matter should not know about your improvement. You are in the middle of an A-rank mission. So you must also act like you are in one. Even when I'm outside Konoha, you must keep your skills and abilities hidden. Remember that a true shinobi is someone who stays hidden even in broad daylight."

Naruto nodded understanding the message. He'll be living, growing his skills as a shinobi and maturing under the shadows while showing his immature, childish self to the rest of the world that remains in broad day-light.

Seeing that Naruto understood his message, Itane decided to teach him how to control his chakra. Itane gathered some chakra on his feet and started walking on the tree. Naruto was shocked to see Itane climb a tree without using his hands.

Itane sat on a branch of the tree and started giving Naruto instructions, "First gather some chakra on your feet. You may not get it the first time around so take a kunai and run a little bit before you start climbing the tree. When you are about to fall down, mark the bark of the tree using the kunai. Remember if you use too little chakra, your feet won't stick. Use too much chakra and you'll be pushed away from the tree. This is a chakra control exercise. To do this technique, I want you to create twenty clones. All of you should try climbing the trees around this clearing. After every fifteen minutes, the five clones that reached the highest points will be dispelled and you'll create five more clones to replace them."

Naruto created twenty clones and started the tree walking exercise. After four hours of training, Naruto collapsed due to chakra exhaustion. He had reached about three-fourth of the tree. Half an hour later, Naruto woke up in the forest of death, to find his sensei cooking a rabbit and some fish. Itane told Naruto that his Kage-Bunshin managed to hunt down a rabbit and found some fish at a nearby lake while Naruto was asleep. After eating their dinner in the forest, Itane decided to call it a day. He carried Naruto back to his apartment, removed his shoes and laid him on his bed before going back to his apartment.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES:**

**Here is the re-written third chapter. I hope you guys like it. There will be a time-skip to cannon after the next chapter. I'm not going to write Itane's training sessions with Naruto in detail. I've got a nice idea of how to go about things once we reach canon and yes, Naruto will be a lot stronger than in canon but not over powered. I've also been considering a lot of pairings. It won't be Naru-Hina. **


	4. Chapter 4-The Mission with Jounins

**CHAPTER 4: MISSION WITH JOUNINS**

A week had passed by very quickly. Itane had Naruto train throughout the week while having him send his Kage-Bunshin to the academy. In the academy, Naruto had a hard time with his Kage-Bunshin doing his level best to dodge his daily punches from Sakura and pretend as though he has been hit. During the weekly Taijutsu spars, Naruto had to go himself as he couldn't afford to have his Kage-Bunshin take his place and get dispelled. As usual Mizuki ensured that he was paired with Uchiha Sasuke during the spars which guaranteed a beating for the blond prankster.

During the one week, Naruto had mastered the tree-walking, water-walking and leaf balancing exercises which greatly increased and enhanced his chakra control. After that Itane began working on Naruto's Taijutsu. He decided to teach Naruto the style of Taijutsu that he had created with the help of Jiraiya during their three year training trip that was based on his natural unpredictability and the use of Kage-Bunshins. Meanwhile Itane had begun his own training with Kong. Kong like Enma could henge into an adamantine staff which could extend and retract as he willed. Itane had to work on his Boujutsu to be able to work in perfect synch with Kong. Fortunately for him, the Sandaime was kind enough to provide him with scrolls on Boujutsu.

Currently Itane was sitting on the couch in the Sandaime's office waiting for a new mission. He had given clear instructions to Naruto to attend the academy himself and not as a clone during the period of the mission and to keep practicing his wall-walking and leaf balancing exercises while he was in his room alone.

The Sandaime entered his office after yet another boring council meeting and was happy to see the older version of Uzumaki Naruto sitting in his office under the disguise. Seeing the Sandaime, the Rokudaime said, "Jiji, good morning. I'm here for a mission."

Sandaime looked at Itane and asked, "Ok. Missions of which rank do you want?"

Itane thought for a while before replying, "Preferably A-rank or B-rank missions. I don't want to be away from the village for too long since I've got a brat to train."

In his mindscape Kurama was laughing as he said, **"ME, TSUNADE, JIRAIYA, KAKASHI AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND ENEMIES HAVE CALLED YOU A BRAT BEFORE. IT WAS ABOUT TIME YOU CALLED YOURSELF ONE."**

Sandaime thought for a while before showing Itane a scroll and explaining, "A couple of weeks back we received Intel regarding a certain ninja from Ame named Kandachi who was Hanzo of the Salamander's right hand man. According to the reports he and several of his men ran from Ame before disappearing. The man is extremely dangerous and was strong enough to be the right hand man of Hanzo. He is infamous for his use of Suiton jutsu and Genjutsu. I want you to investigate his location. We need to always be aware of his location and what he is doing if he has stepped outside Ame."

Itane looked at the scroll and smiled, "Kandachi is currently in the Genjutsu Tree Village. In Amegakure, Hanzo and his faction were defeated by Pain. So Kandachi fled from Ame with as many of Hanzo's followers he could gather and went to the Genjutsu Tree Village. He is holding the women and children hostage with the threat that if word of their hiding is leaked to anyone outside the village, the hostages would be killed. Back in my time, Jiraiya and I went to the village for my Genjutsu training and ran into Kandachi. I managed to defeat him with the help of Jiraiya and a villager named Tanishi using my Odama Rasengan."

Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but laugh as he said, "I've been handing over missions to shinobi in this village for decades now. But this is the first time anyone has completed the mission before even leaving my office."

After he stopped laughing, Hiruzen lit up his pipe as he said, "Then in that case, I've a new mission for you. I want you to go to the Genjutsu Tree Village and defeat Kandachi and his party. You'll operate as a Jounin in this mission. List the team you want and it will be provided."

Itane thought for a while before saying, "In that case, I want a team comprising of people who can handle Genjutsu well enough. I would like Kurenai since she is the local Genjutsu mistress, Kakashi since he has got a Sharingan that should be able to cast and dispel Genjutsu with ease and Asuma for this mission."

The Sandaime Hokage thought for a while before asking, "I can understand Kurenai and Kakashi. But why do you need Asuma?"

Itane looked at the Sandaime as he replied, "If I remember right, Kandachi had a powerful summon. It was a creature known as the Conch King that could cast powerful Genjutsu, shoot rods at you and could also use tentacles to grab you or whip you. Asuma's chakra blades would be useful in dealing with the tentacles."

Hiruzen looked at Itane and asked, "Is that the only reason you want Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma in your team? While Kurenai is still a Chunin whom we have been considering worthy of promotion, Kakashi and Asuma have been Jounins for several years now. With them in the squad, I'm afraid you won't be able to lead the mission since you're a relatively new and unknown face among the Jounins."

Itane smiled while answering, "I don't mind not leading the mission. Kakashi might be the best possible candidate for something like that. And you're right. That's not the only reason I want to work with Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma. Back when I became a Genin, Kakashi was my Jounin sensei while Kurenai and Asuma were the Jounin sensei of the other squads. I want them to be more familiar and comfortable with me since there is a very good chance that I would be running into them very frequently in the upcoming years."

Hiruzen smiled as he said, "I see. I'll send for the three of them. Why don't you relax till then?"

Line break

When Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai arrived at the Hokage's Office, they noticed a rather unfamiliar red-head in the room. Usually Kakashi would have been late. But the mission was an A-rank mission. Kakashi was afterall infamous for being ridiculously late because of ridiculous excuses for anything less than an A-rank mission.

Hiruzen and Itane looked at the three of them as Hiruzen said, "Now that all of you are here, let me debrief you on the mission. Your mission is an A-rank mission to take out Hanzo of the Salamander's right hand man, Kandachi who is currently hiding in the Genjutsu Tree Village. We received Intel that Kandachi and a bunch of Hanzo's followers are hiding in the Genjutsu Tree Village and using the women and children as a hostage for some reason. The team led by Jounin Hatake Kakashi will comprise of Jounin Sautobi Asuma, Jounin Hakuza Itane and Chunin Yuhi Kurenai. Any questions?"

Kakashi was the one who asked, "Hokage-sama, while I know both Sarutobi Asuma and Yuhi Kurenai very well, I don't have any idea of who Hakuza Itane is. I'm pretty sure I've never even seen him in Konoha. Who is he and why has he been assigned to this team?"

Hiruzen who had been expecting this question answered, "Itane has been a Konoha Oinin for several years. He has also operated as a spy and hence his files are for Hokage eyes only. As a spy he operated outside Jiraiya's spy network. He came back recently from one of his long term missions. Amongst all the information he gathered, he also brought us information about Kandachi hiding in the Genjutsu Tree Village. His last mission as a spy was a success, but his identity was compromised, hence he can no longer continue as a spy. He is easily Jounin level and will join you on this mission. And from now on, he will continue as a Jounin. So, you better get used to doing a lot of missions with him in the future. He can also supply you with a lot of Intel, he had managed to gather from his spying and Oinin days. Normally I'd have you spar with one another to learn each other's abilities. But we don't have time for that. As for his abilities, he is above Jounin level in Taijutsu. He is also Jounin level in dispelling Genjutsu though he has very low Genjutsu casting abilities. As far as Ninjutsu is concerned, he can use every single element, though he is a master of Fuuton and Suiton Ninjutsu. He is also very proficient in Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu and Boujutsu. He has also signed the Saru contract like me, which is how he stayed in touch with me even during his long term missions. He will be the second-in-command of this mission due to his Intel."

Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma swallowed the information and looked open-mouthed at Itane, who just smiled. The three of them suspected that the Hokage had over-exaggerated his abilities. Little did they know that the Hokage had greatly under-played his abilities.

As they walked out of the office, Kakashi said, "Pack for a week. We'll meet at the gate in half an hour."

Line Break

Itane packed his stuff and left Naruto a note which he slipped under his door saying that he won't be available for atleast a week. As Itane walked to the gate he recalled his conversation with the Hokage.

"_Naruto, I must ask you to hide a lot of your abilities during the course of the mission." Hiruzen said looking at Itane._

"_Jiji, first of all you must get used to calling me Itane. Nobody aside from you should know of my identity. I've already told you about my abilities. How much do you think, I should reveal?" Itane asked._

_Hiruzen thought for a while before answering, "Using the Rasengan or its variants is out of question. No doubt, Kakashi would recognize his sensei's jutsu. The same applies to the Hiraishin. Use them only if you are not within the sight of any of your team-mates. Even Sennin mode could raise a lot of questions. Feel free to use your Kenjutsu and also Elemental Ninjutsu. If you use Kawazu Kumite, Kakashi might recognize it. I would suggest using another Taijutsu form. Using your tenant's chakra is also totally out of question. How fast are you without your tenant's chakra or the Hiraishin?"_

"_I would be about as fast as Kakashi without any of Kurama's chakra or Hiraishin. As far as Taijutsu is concerned, I can use the Counter Fist since it is a style of my own that Kakashi hasn't seen yet and hence shouldn't recognize at all. It is also different from the style I've begun teaching Naruto. Kurama can discretely break any Genjutsu for me. So, that shouldn't be a problem. I guess I'll focus mainly on Suiton and Fuuton Ninjutsu during the course of the mission." Itane said._

_Hiruzen nodded before saying, "But it seems like we'll have to tell Kakashi at some point that you trained Naruto before he became a Genin. While he won't recognize the Taijutsu, knowing Kakashi, he'll confront Naruto on why he hid his abilities while he was in the academy and Naruto will have no choice but to answer."_

_Itane just shrugged, "Doesn't matter. We'll just explain the mission to Kakashi. Just tell him that the mission was based on the Intel gathered by me. That should keep him quiet. But we'll do that only after his damned Bell test. This time around, I'll make sure that Naruto and I humiliate Kakashi badly." Itane said with an evil smile on his face._

_Hiruzen seeing the smile on Itane's face couldn't help but think, 'God help Kakashi…he is so screwed.'_

Soon Itane reached the gates and noticed that Kurenai had reached before him and was waiting for the rest. When Kurenai noticed Itane, she approached him, "Hakuza-san, since we are doing this mission together, can you tell me a little about yourself?"

Itane just smiled at her as he said, "Just call me Itane, Kurenai-san. No need to be too formal. Why don't you tell me about yourself and I'll tell you about me. I won't be able to tell you everything due to my secretive past. But I'll try to tell you whatever I can within the limits."

Kurenai nodded as she said, "My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I am 26 years old. I am a Chunin. I like having evening drinks. I hate perverts and the Icha-Icha series. I hope to be a Jounin soon, train some Genin and eventually settle down and have a family of my own. My main area of focus is Genjutsu."

Itane remembered seeing her and her son back during his time. She named her son Sarutobi Yuhi Asuma after the child's father, who had died at the hands of Hidan just after she had become pregnant. Itane made a silent promise to himself to make sure that her child doesn't grow fatherless this time around.

Meanwhile Kurama decided to poke fun at Itane again saying, **"REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAW HER PREGNANT FOR THE FIRST TIME, YOU ASKED WHAT HAD SHE EATEN TO BECOME FATTER THAN CHOJI. THAT WAS HILARIOUS."**

Itane blushed slightly at the embarrassing memory before introducing himself to Kurenai, "I am Hakuza Itane. I am currently a 21 year old Jounin. I like Ramen. I hate traitors and arrogant people. My dream is a peaceful Shinobi World. I don't have a main area of focus. I try to even out my skills in all departments. But due to my abundance of chakra and lack of perfect chakra control, I can't cast much Genjutsu or do Iryo-Ninjutsu. But I'm really good at breaking out of Genjutsu and I heal rather quickly."

Kurenai frowned, "So, you are younger than me. I didn't know that. It sucks that you are ahead of me in rank despite being 5 years younger than me."

Itane replied, "Don't worry much about it. I heard the Sandaime mention that he and the council have been thinking about promoting you soon. So you might actually be very close to achieving your dream than you think you are. "

This seemed to cheer up Kurenai who had a bright smile on her face. Just then Asuma and Kakashi who had been over-hearing their conversation appeared. Kakashi who still didn't trust his new team-mate completely asked, "Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. But, it is really puzzling that I've never seen you despite the fact that you are younger than me."

Both Hiruzen and Itane had already prepared for such questions as they knew that the copy-ninja didn't just trust anybody whom he met. And winning the copy-ninja's trust would really help on the long run. Itane just replied calmly, "Well I grew during the Third Great Ninja War. I was also recruited very early because of my talent. I was trained young and was sent on spying missions from a very young age. So it is only natural that you haven't seen me since I didn't spend much time within the gates of Konoha. It became worse after the Kyuubi incident and the Uchiha massacre. I was sent to make sure that no village had plans to attack Konoha when we were weakened. When I wasn't spying, I was hunting missing-nin as an Oinin."

Kakashi and Asuma seemed to accept that answer as they stayed silent. Itane remembered the last time Kakashi introduced himself back when he had just graduated from the academy. He decided to try again, "Asuma-san and Kakashi-san, since you overheard both mine and Kurenai-san's introduction, would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?"

Asuma laughed, "Sure. My name is Sarutobi Asuma. I'm 26 years old. I like playing shogi and eating soba with tororo. I hate asparagus and traitors. My dream is to defeat Nara Shikaku-san in Shogi."

Itane smiled and looked towards his former Jounin sensei and current captain for his introduction. Kakashi opened his weapon's pouch, picked up an Icha-Icha book and started reading it as he said, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm 25 years old. I like…many things. I hate…some things. My dreams…are none of your business."

Asuma sighed at his introduction. Kurenai just glared at Kakashi and his book. Itane just smiled. But inside he was seething. He really wanted to kick his former sensei's ass. Meanwhile Kurama started laughing inside him, **"THAT SAME INTRODUCTION YET AGAIN. KAKASHI-2 NARUTO-0. BUT ALL JOKES ASIDE, IF HE GIVES THAT INTRODUCTION EVER AGAIN, LET ME LOOSE ON HIM. HELL, JUST RELEASE A LITTLE OF MY CHAKRA AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT, HE WOULD BE TALKING LIKE A PARROT."**

Itane agreed with Kurama on this one. He had decided the next time Kakashi introduced himself like that to him; he would let Kurama loose upon him. Consequences be damned.

The four of them then took off towards the Genjutsu Tree Village with Kakashi in the lead. After an hour of silent travel through trees, Kurenai decided to break the silence, "Kakashi, what do you know about this Genjutsu Tree Village? I haven't been there myself, so I have no clue."

Kakashi closed his book and said, "I don't know much about the place myself since I haven't been there. I know that Jiraiya-sama once went there to do some research for Icha-Icha Positions. Jiraiya-sama has few friends in that village. The only thing I really know about the place myself is that those who try to enter the village in the wrong way are hit by a Genjutsu, thus making it hard to enter the village. Maybe Itane-san can explain more about the place, since he is the one who noticed our target, Kandachi enter the village."

Itane realized that Kakashi was still suspicious of him. He turned to Kurenai, "The Genjutsu Tree Village is surrounded by a forest. A special magnetic field exists in that area that affects a person's chakra flow in the brain. Hence, if anyone travelling through the village takes a wrong path, he could end up in a situation similar to being under a Genjutsu. I've heard that using Genjutsu within the village makes the Genjutsu even stronger and harder to dispel. I believe that is why our target, Kandachi is hiding there since he is also a proficient Genjutsu user."

Kurenai thought for a while before looking at Itane, "I see. So that is why this team has been assembled; Kakashi, because of his Sharingan, and me, because of my Genjutsu talent. Itane-san is here because he is the spy who spotted the entire thing. But why is Asuma here?"

Itane was the one who answered, "I've seen Kandachi fight before. He uses a summon that uses tentacles like a whip. Asuma-san is an experienced fighter who is the only person in Konoha who uses both the offensive elements, Fuuton and Katon Ninjutsu, which Hokage-sama and I thought would come in handy if we were to fight Kandachi."

Kurenai turned to the spy as she asked, "Itane-san, you seem to know a lot about our target, the area he is hiding in and also his abilities. Then why did Hokage-sama choose Kakashi to lead this mission? I'm sure you could complete this mission if you were to lead a squad of Anbu or Oinin in this mission."

Kakashi was inwardly praising Kurenai for asking the question. But Itane calmly answered, "First of all Kurenai-san, Oinin are mostly used to working alone. So taking on Kandachi and his entire group of ninja alone wouldn't be advisable. Secondly, Hokage-sama has wanted to make me a Jounin for a while. My identity being compromised was just the final blow. As far as leading the Anbu is concerned, it wouldn't have worked because they have to experts at casting and dispelling Genjutsu and we no longer have Uchihas within the Anbu, so we're kind of short-handed in that department. This mission requires Genjutsu experts like you, Kurenai-san. Hence you and Kakashi-san are part of the mission. Finally as far as leading this group is concerned, I don't know much about the three of you and your abilities and while I've done a lot of missions for Konoha, I've never done them as a Jounin. This is my first mission as a Jounin. It would be too much to ask of me to lead experienced Jounin in my first mission as one. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll be leading teams of Jounins including you three into missions. But right now, it would be too soon. Kakashi-san has more experience than me as a Jounin and both you and Asuma-san seem to know him as well. Tell me, wouldn't it be too weird for you to take orders from someone you haven't even seen? Hokage-sama understood the importance of my abilities and the information in my possession and hence placed me second-in-command of this team ahead of a more experienced Jounin like Asuma-san because of that."

Kurenai nodded pleased at the answer and while Kakashi nodded as well, he was still finding it hard to trust the man. Asuma was inwardly laughing at Kakashi's frustration at not being able to find anything on him. While Asuma didn't know Itane either, he knew that if his father had allowed someone else to sign the Monkey summoning scroll, it had to be someone that trustworthy. Afterall, not even the legendary Sannin were allowed to sign the scroll despite having been the Sandaime's most trusted students for a long time. Asuma didn't sign the scroll either, though Konohamaru probably would in the future. While Asuma wasn't too close with his father, he knew that his father wouldn't just trust anyone with something that important to him. He also couldn't sense anything evil within the red-head. Asuma would be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous of Itane, who seemed to have earned enough of his father's trust to have been allowed to sign the Saru summoning contract, be placed second-in command of the mission and seemed to have also earned his crush, Kurenai's trust, but so far, he seemed like a decent enough guy who was unknowingly frustrating Kakashi which was enough to entertain Asuma.

Kakashi on the other hand, couldn't help but be suspicious. He first suspected the man to be a Root ninja. But he didn't exactly seem totally emotionless either. He seemed to be someone who had his emotions under control. He had red hair and violet eyes, which reminded Kakashi of his sensei's wife. He couldn't remember any other red head in Konoha besides Uzumaki Kushina. His story was too secretive. He suspected the man of having fooled the Sandaime into trusting him, but the Sandaime even had him sign the Saru contract that not even the Sannin were allowed to sign. He seemed decent enough. But Kakashi couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with his story. He just couldn't point it out. For now, he couldn't trust this man who the Sandaime deemed to be easily Jounin level. Maybe he was being too paranoid, but the man was just too much of a mystery.

Itane knew that Kakashi didn't trust him. But that's exactly the kind of person his former sensei was till Sasuke killed him.

Kurenai on the other hand, seemed to trust the guy enough. The man had nicely introduced himself. He seemed nice and knowledgeable. He also seemed like a stand-up guy. He was a Jounin, younger than her, didn't seem to be an open-pervert like Kakashi or a chain smoker like Asuma, and was quiet friendly and humble, something you don't find too often in shinobi these days. He also seemed to appreciate her expertise in Genjutsu, which put him in her good books.

After a while Kakashi stopped and told the others, "We will rest here for a while. We'll travel again 7 hours from now. We'll reach the village tomorrow at daybreak. We'll eat first and then Kurenai-san will take first watch followed by Asuma-san, me and then Itane-san."

The team pulled up their tents and started eating by a camp fire when Kurenai decided to break the silence, "Itane-san, you said earlier that your dream is a peaceful shinobi world. What did you mean by that?"

Itane looked at Kurenai and smiled before looking towards the sky, "Kurenai-san, our world seems to be almost always at War, doesn't it. There has never been peace in the Shinobi world. Even now, it is just, the calm before the storm. As ninjas, we fight, we kill and we spy to protect our homes. But aren't the people who we fight against, we kill and we spy on doing the same. Then why can't people understand each other. Because of one person's greed, or one person's craving for revenge, the whole world has fought wars three times already. Several people have lost their lives because of these wars. Several children have become orphans, several wives have lost their husbands, several husbands have lost their wives, several brothers and sisters have lost their siblings, and several parents have lost their children. Several children get sent into wars to compensate for the loss of soldiers. Eventually all that is left is lots of pain, hatred and grief. There is no real meaning in death. When you have loved someone and lost it, all that is left is hate. And hatred breeds more hatred. Before you know it, you are in another war for revenge or greed. In a war, there are no winners or losers, only survivors. Yet, we keep fighting wars. I just want the wars to truly end, so that people can live happily without having to watch their backs all the time."

Kurenai and Asuma felt a lot of respect now for the red-head who was looking at the stars. The red-head whom Kakashi had suspected all day long, suddenly reminded him of his sensei, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Afterall, his sensei wished the same. He also felt a great deal of respect for the red-haired ninja he was leading in the mission. That didn't mean he wouldn't continue suspecting him to be an enemy. But he could cut him some slack.

The following morning as they neared the village, Kakashi announced, "There is only one way of entering and that is through the front door. Itane-san, since you know the way in having spied on Kandachi, you'll be in the front while we'll follow."

The four of them began walking with Itane in the front followed by Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai. The entire path was misty and nothing could be seen. Itane kept walking along the same path he remembered passing through when he was with Jiraiya. As they neared the gates, Kakashi sensed the presence of someone and warned the rest of his team, "Guys, hold on. The village seems to have erected some walls and there is a kid guarding the wall."

"None of us can see anything in the mist. How did you know about the wall and the kid?" Itane asked Kakashi despite knowing how he sensed the kid.

Kakashi just pointed to his nose as he said, "I'm a bit of a sensor. I could smell the kid and he was at a higher ground than us. He also seems to be having some chilli pepper powder with him, probably to attack anyone who is trying to enter the village. He is probably a local civilian who is being forced to do guard work for Kandachi. No ninja, even academy students in their right minds would ever use chilli pepper powder instead of kunai or shuriken. We already know that Kandachi is keeping the women and children hostage and is hiding in this village. It's only natural that he would have a wall erected so that he could make sure that he can regulate who comes in and who goes out of the village. That is the only way to explain how the kid is at a higher ground than us."

Itane realized that the kid must be Tanishi as he, Asuma and Kurenai nodded at Kakashi's explanation before he said, "With civilians guarding the village, I'm pretty sure that they won't be able to keep this up forever. Kurenai-san, I want you to put a Genjutsu around us. We'll slip in when there is change in the guards' shift. I'll summon Pakkun to keep sensing the kid and alert us when there is a change in the guards' shift."

Kakashi then performed the hand seals and shouted, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" as a smoke appeared and out of it a small miniature pug like dog with brown fur and a dark brown snout and ears wearing a blue vest and a Konoha hitai-ate appeared saying, **"Yo Kakashi! What do you need me here for?"**

"Pakkun, I'm sure you can smell a kid about 75 meters away from us. I want you to keep sensing him. Tell me when he moves, so that we know when the guards' shift is changing to infiltrate the village." Kakashi said to his ninken.

"Oh! A ninken! So that is the summon of the infamous copy ninja, Hatake Kakashi. Cool. I would have never thought of that." Itane said.

"**Oh! Who are you? I'm Pakkun, the leader of Kakashi's ninken." **Pakkun said looking at the red head.

"My name is Hakuza Itane. Nice to meet you." Itane said with a smile.

"**You seem like a nice guy. And since you said that I'm cool, I'll let you touch my paw. It is very soft and supple." **Pakkun said

Itane touched Pakkun's paw and said, "You're right. They're very soft."

Kakashi eventually got tired of watching his ninken interact with the new Jounin and said, "Enough, you two. We're on a mission. Pakkun focus on the kid. Itane-san, you better get ready. Once the kid moves, we'll follow him and find out more about Kandachi and what he is doing in the village. I suggest you go and eat before resting till I give the signal. Understood?"

"Hai!" Itane replied as he moved back.

Kakashi then went to Pakkun and said, "Do you think something is wrong with that guy. His entire past is secretive. He doesn't smell like anyone familiar as far as I know. He seems to have decent chakra reserves. According to Hokage-sama, he used to be a Konoha spy outside Jiraiya's network and an Oinin, but I don't remember a single red-head in Konoha besides Kushina-san. I may not have met him before, but I should've come across atleast one member of his family or some relative who smells a little like him or has red hair like him."

Pakkun thought for a while, **"You think he is Kushina-san's illegitimate son or something? But he doesn't smell like Kushina-san or Minato-san. I think it is all part of an extensive cover-up. He was an Oinin and a spy. He must have gone through some heavy surgery to actually do that. But he does seem like a nice guy. There is some real honesty in his eyes that even the best of shinobi cannot fake, Kakashi. He is also strong. When he touched my paws, I could tell that he is very strong, much stronger than even you, Kakashi."**

"That strong, huh! As far as I know, only Hokage-sama is stronger than me in the village. Jiraiya-sama hasn't come to the village in years because of his spy network. Tsunade-sama has pretty much left the village. Both Orochimaru and Uchiha Itachi are missing-nin, the Uchiha clan has been totally wiped out and Danzo is a cripple with a walking stick and without an arm and an eye, though knowing him he could just be pretending. While the presence of someone much stronger than me makes me glad if he is loyal, it also does scare me if he is an enemy. Hokage-sama did mention that he is easily Jounin level and he did debrief us on his skills. I thought he may have been over-exaggerating. But if you're right, Pakkun, he was probably under-playing his skills. Maybe Hokage-sama brought him back because the village is weaker than ever now. I just hope that is the case." Kakashi said.

After nearly two hours, Pakkun announced, **"The kid has begun moving. Now would be the best time to enter the village. If that is all Kakashi, I'm going back. Ja ne." **before disappearing in a smoke.

When Kakashi gave the signal, he, Kurenai, Asuma and Itane quickly went over the wall and infiltrated the village under a Genjutsu. They followed the kid who was guarding earlier and whose shift had just ended. The kid had purple hair and light brown eyes. He wore a maroon-colored headband around his forehead with a high-collard, long-sleeved green shirt with a dark-green vest over it which reached down past his waist, held closed by a grey-colored belt. He also wore a pair of dark-colored pants, and a pair of sandals. He had a small black dot on the middle of his forehead. Itane immediately recognized the kid as Tanishi from his travels with Jiraiya.

After Tanishi entered his house, Kurenai knocked him out with a Genjutsu and tried to pry out information from the boy. Since he wasn't a ninja, it was easy for Kurenai to pull out information from him. He told the Konoha ninja everything from Kandachi's entry to the village to Sukune's death and his mother being held as a hostage. After that Kurenai put him to sleep with her Genjutsu and carried him on her hip to his bed where she laid him quietly while feeling sorry for him the entire time. She then joined Itane, Asuma and Kakashi to make plans to kill Kandachi and rescue the hostages including Tanishi's mother.

Line break

Five Villagers approached a very large River with two tied up captives, a Jounin and Chunin from Konohagakure. In the middle of which, there was a large piece of Land filled with trees. One of the villagers yelled, "KANDACHI-SAMA!"

Out of the River came seven men, of which six were wearing masks similar to Hanzo of the Salamander. The one in the middle, Kandachi had black spiky hair with a scar on the top right corner of his face, which covered about a quarter of his face. He wore a grey uniform similar to the one worn by the other six but without the mask. He wore a smug look on his face as he looked at the two captives.

"Sharingan no Hatake Kakashi and a no-name Chunin from Konohagakure! Well that's a surprise. Your Sharingan is showing Kakashi. I suppose that's how you found your way into the village. Using your Sharingan, I guess you managed to find a way into the village without being affected by the Genjutsu. Who amongst you caught these two?" Kandachi asked looking at the villagers.

A guard raised his hand, "Kandachi-sama, I found these two outside the village. So I called the others had with their help, managed to apprehend these two."

Kandachi looked at the guard and smiled, "You'll be rewarded, I promise. Did you see two others with them?"

The guard shook his head, "No, Kandachi-sama!"

Kakashi chose the moment to interrupt, "Kandachi, right-hand man of Hanzo of the Salamander, What are you doing here? Have you deserted Amegakure and betrayed Hanzo?"

Kandachi looked hard at Kakashi and said, "I wouldn't even dream of betraying Hanzo. Amegakure has no leader now. That is why I gathered as many followers as I could and left. That is all you need to know since you're going to die anyway. However you Ms. Chunin will remain alive. I'm sure you can keep us entertained for a while and if Konoha comes, I'm sure I can use you as a hostage."

Kandachi then turned to the guard, "I had you build a wall, so that you don't let anyone inside. You brought Sharingan no Hatake Kakashi into the village. Even if I kill him, Konoha will launch an investigation to find out where he is and who killed him leading them here to me. The price for that is very hefty. I said I'm going to reward you and reward you I will. You will now see your loved ones die right in front of your eyes."

Kandachi raised his left hand as a tentacle came out of the water and pulled a cage from the land in the middle of the River. Several women were inside the cage and they were crying out loudly.

The guard yelled, "What are you going to do to them? My family is in that cage."

"I'm going to keep my promise. I'm going to feed them to the Conch King."

Suddenly a conch like creature appeared with big horns. Kandachi jumped on top of the creature as he did some hand-seals and yelled, "Ninja Art! Conch Whip!" as three more tentacles appeared out of the Conch King and pulled out three more cages filled with people from the piece of land in the middle of the River.

The villagers started pleading, "Stop! Please stop, Kandachi-sama!"

Kakashi suddenly broke free from his ropes and started running to the Conch King while doing some hand seals. Several tentacles came out of the Conch King and attacked Kakashi, but he dodged them all as he completed his hand seals and shouted, "Chidori!" as he charged in at the Conch King.

The jutsu made contact with the Conch King, but proved to be ineffective as it didn't even hurt the creature. Suddenly a tentacle came out of the Conch King's mouth and hit Kakashi in the ribs.

Seeing how ineffective Kakashi's attack was, the guard started pleading again, "Please, I beg you! Spare my friends and my family!"

"Not likely. Whether you did it intentionally or not, you threatened my safety and security in this village and you'll have to pay the price for that." Kandachi said while smiling at the guard.

Kurenai who had gotten free of her bonds by then said looking at the guard, "You're asking the wrong person. Did you really think he'd release the hostages some day? If you aren't willing to do anything, the village will never be saved."

Kurenai then ran through the water and pulled Kakashi out of it, while yelling, "What are you waiting for?"

Immediately Itane and Asuma jumped out of the trees and started running towards the cages. Seeing the two of them, Kandachi did some hand seals and rods started coming out of the Conch King towards Itane and Asuma. Both Itane and Asuma dodged the rods and jumped on top of the cages. Asuma took out his chakra blades and infused them with Fuuton chakra as he cut through two of the tentacles while Itane performed some hand seals and yelled, "Kaze-kiri no jutsu!" as two wind blades cut through the remaining tentacles, thereby freeing the hostages from the Conch King's grip. As the cages began drifting towards the waterfall at the end of the river, Asuma jumped and started pulling the cages away, while Itane took on Kandachi's six guards.

Meanwhile Kakashi stood back up from the water and said yelled, "You're battle is against me." Kandachi began performing some hand seals. Kakashi copied the same hand seals as both of them yelled at the same time, "SUITON: SUIRYUDAN NO JUTSU!"

Two water dragons appeared and started battling each other with neither of them coming out on top. Having battled Sharingan users before, Kandachi concluded, 'Must be the power of the Sharingan.'

Meanwhile Kurenai joined Itane as they took on the former Ame ninja. They took three of them each while the villagers helped Asuma pull in the cages with their families and friends.

Kurenai performed some hand seals as she yelled, "Demonic Illusion: String Bean Binding Illusion!" as vines came out of the ground binding two of the three ninja she was facing. She immediately jumped in with her Kunai and cut their neck, before the third could dispel their Genjutsu. However just as she finished killing the second, she left herself open for the third one to strike. However, just before he could connect, Itane caught his wrist and kicked him hand sending him flying through the water towards the rest of his comrades.

"Thanks for the save." Kurenai said as she stood back up on the water surface. Itane smiled, "No problem."

"My Genjutsu earlier seemed stronger when I used it earlier. I usually catch only one with that, but I managed to catch two of them. I myself was surprised to catch two of them. It was because I went to kill the second one, I was open for the third one to strike. I suppose it is because of the magnetic field." Kurenai said to Itane and Asuma who had joined them after saving the hostages and pulling them out of the river.

Itane then smiled as he said, "Just step back you two. I'm going to finish this off with my Genjutsu technique." as he started doing hand signs and yelled, "Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no Jutsu!"

The remaining four Ame ninja were enclosed in darkness, where they couldn't see anything. Itane just moved in and cut all their necks. Asuma looked completely shocked as he said, "The Nidaime Hokage's justu. Never thought I would see it."

Kurenai also looked at Itane totally shocked, "I thought you couldn't perform much Genjutsu and you did that?"

Itane just smiled as he said, "It is true that I can't perform much Genjutsu, Kokuangyo no Jutsu is just the only Genjutsu technique that I can perform since it requires a lot more of chakra than it needs chakra control. Anyways we better join up with Kakashi. His battle is still not over."

The three of them ran towards Kakashi to see Kakashi and Kandachi cancelling each other out in a Ninjutsu fight with both of them throwing Suiton Ninjutsu one after another while Kakashi was dodging the tentacles' whip attacks and the rods shooting out of the Conch King. As soon as Itane, Asuma and Kurenai joined Kakashi, Kandachi said, "I see. So you three managed to defeat my soldiers."

Asuma cracked his knuckles as he said, "Kandachi, now you're outnumbered four to one. Give up. Fighting any further would be useless."

Kandachi looked at the Asuma as he said, "On the contrary, I didn't use this technique earlier so that you three don't intervene later and help out Kakashi. Now, I've all four of you where I want you." Kandachi then performed some hand seals as he said, "Suiton Genjutsu: Mugen Marō!"

The Conch King opened its shell and released a mist. The mist put all four of them under a Genjutsu. Having overused the Sharingan, Kakashi couldn't reflect it back. Itane, Kurenai and Asuma weren't able to dispel the Genjutsu either. The Conch King's tentacles came out and licked the four of them until they were frozen.

Kandachi just looked at them with a smug smile on his face as he said, "You cannot weave any hand seals. The reason I chose this place to hide was because the special magnetic field created by the trees surrounding this swamp greatly increases the power of the Conch King. Even someone of Sannin level cannot break out of a Genjutsu of this level. Now all of you will be overcome with fear due to paralysis. It is only a matter of time before you all suffer from a mental breakdown."

Just as everything was looking hopeless for the Konoha ninjas, the Genjutsu was destroyed by chilli pepper powder. All four ninjas who were within the Genjutsu earlier started coughing with their eyes closed.

Kandachi looked shocked, "How did they break out of the Genjutsu?"

"The one was trapped in the Genjutsu was just a Kage-Bunshin."

Kandachi looked to his right to see another Itane who said, "You should look behind you."

Kandachi looked behind him to see two clones of Itane.

One clone shouted, "Suiton: Mizudeppō!" as the clone shot a blast of water.

The other clone shouted, "Fuuton: Tatsumaki!" as the clone released a powerful blast of wind.

As the attacks combined, both the clones shouted together, "Fuuton: Mizu Taihou!"

The collaboration attack hit the Conch King and destroyed it. Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma looked wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the red-haired Jounin who used a powerful collaboration jutsu of Fuuton and Suiton Ninjutsu to defeat the Conch King. Itane was staring at the defeated Kandachi who was lying on the water surface awaiting the finishing blow.

In his mindscape, Kurama said, **"NICE ONE, THERE! BUT YOU BETTER ACT AS THOUGH YOU ARE TIRED. YOU USED A KOKUANGYO NO JUTSU AND THEN FOLLOWED IT UP WTH A POWERFUL COLLABORATION ATTACK OF A FUUTON AND SUITON ATTACK. MOST JOUNIN CAN'T DO THAT MUCH. NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO COLLAPSE. LET KAKASHI FINISH HIM OFF."**

Itane followed Kakashi's advice as he pretended to collapse while panting, only to be caught by Kakashi himself, who said, "Nice justu you got there. And thanks for the save. I'll handle it from here. You better get some rest."

Asuma and Kurenai pulled Itane from Kakashi as he put his arms over each of them who held him up as Kakashi's hand began to turn blue and create an electrifying sound, "Chidori!" he screamed before plunging his hand through Kandachi's heart thereby killing him.

After Kandachi was dead, Asuma asked Itane, "How did you dispel the Genjutsu?"

"I was never caught in the Genjutsu in the first place. It was a Kage-Bunshin all along that was caught in the Genjutsu with you guys. I just took some chilli pepper bombs that I found in the kid's place. I figured he kept them for a reason. Since people who live in the village can also get easily caught in a Genjutsu, they must have some way around it. When I noticed that my clone was having some trouble breaking out of the Genjutsu, I just threw those chilli pepper bombs at you guys. That seemed to work as it pulled all of you out of the Genjutsu." Itane replied while acting like he was really tired.

Kakashi who was walking towards Itane, Asuma and Kurenai also suddenly collapsed as Asuma left Itane with Kurenai to pick him up.

"I think I overused the Sharingan yet again." he said sheepishly.

"You think!" Asuma replied sarcastically.

Kurenai carried Itane and Asuma carried Kakashi to Tanishi's house, where the boy was finally reunited with his mother.

The four ninjas stayed at the village for a week as Kakashi recovered after which they departed for Konoha. During their stay, Itane mingled with his fellow Konoha ninja who had begun trusting him. Even Kakashi, who was the loner amongst the group, began trusting him. Asuma played several shogi games against Itane, losing all of them. Kurenai often went for evening drinks with him. She learnt the hard way that he had a very high tolerance to alcohol. The rest of the time, he spent with Kakashi, nursing him back to full health. He could not perform Iryo-Ninjutsu due to his vast chakra reserves. But because of Sakura from his timeline, who kept forcing books related to human body on him and Tsunade, who trained him to take over as the Hokage and preached that 'A Hokage must atleast be able to provide basic first-aid to a ninja', he learnt a little bit on medicine.

The four of them then travelled to Konoha after a successfully accomplished mission.

Line break

When Hiruzen saw the four ninja standing in front of him, he knew something had changed between them. He couldn't help but feel proud of the Rokudaime Hokage who had found a way through to the Genjutsu mistress who was sometimes referred to as the 'Ice Princess', Yuhi Kurenai, his estranged son, Sarutobi Asuma and the so-called 'Lone Wolf', who trusted no one, Hatake Kakashi. He then asked Kakashi to give a detailed report.

After hearing all that had happened, he told Kakashi to stay, while the other three remained outside, "Kakashi-kun, what are your views on Hakuza Itane?"

Kakashi thought for a while before saying, "He is strong, probably even stronger than me. Afterall he defeated a ninja who was holding me to a draw rather easily. His Ninjutsu was impressive. According to Kurenai-san and Asuma-san, he also used the Kokuoangyo no Jutsu and handled three ninja from Amegakure at once. All those ninja were atleast Tokubetsu Jounin to low-Jounin level. His reserves have to be quite impressive if he could use a heavy chakra Genjutsu attack and follow it up with a collaboration type Ninjutsu attack. He saved Kurenai-san from being killed and then he also helped nurse me back to health. His medicines were effective but disgusting. If it weren't for him we would have probably failed this mission. I know he is hiding a lot of things though. That doesn't sit well with me. But he also seems to be a good person. There were times when he reminded me of Minato-sensei. The way he spoke about his dreams and also the way he smiles reminded me of the Yondaime. He looks like Kushina-san too. For a while, I suspected that he was the son of Minato-sensei and Kushina-san."

Hiruzen inwardly gulped while wearing a fake smile on his face. Kakashi had absolutely no idea how right he was as he continued, "But then his chakra signature and smell were so different from them and from Naruto. Also if he were their child, it would mean that they were just 13 when he was born, so that doesn't make any sense. Tell me Sandaime-sama, who are Itane's family?"

"Not much is known about Itane's family aside from the fact that they died on the same day he was born. The boy has lost a lot in his life. Whatever he is hiding, he is hiding on my orders. Don't prod too much into it. It is not that important. He has provided us with so much useful information that has really helped us and will really help us even in the future. He is trustworthy; I can assure you of that. There is a lot of risk involved when you try to bring someone from the darkness into the light. It is hard for him to be accepted. I'm hoping that he completes that transition really well." Hiruzen said. Kakashi felt sad upon hearing the Hokage's words. It seemed like Itane like him had lost everything.

Hiruzen continued, "While he is an excellent spy, I want him to be a part of Konoha's active forces. It'd really make it easier for both him and me, if the three of you could help him bask in the light. Try to get him acquainted with the other Jounin as well. Over the course of the next year, you'll be doing quite a few A-rank or B-rank missions with him, Kurenai and Asuma. After which I'm hoping that you'd be the Jounin sensei of the Gennin team containing Uchiha Sasuke. Only you can teach him how to use the Sharingan."

"I'll be his Jounin sensei only if he and his team-mates can pass my test." Kakashi said hating the idea of having to be a Jounin sensei. They tried forcing him to take teams several times, but all the Gennin teams that were assigned to him failed the Bell test due to lack of teamwork.

"Kakashi, how do you view Yuhi Kurenai's performance during the mission? Do you think she is ready for Jounin rank?" Hiruzen asked the man who lead the mission.

Kakashi replied, "She asked Itane-san proper and insightful questions regarding the mission. She then helped us infiltrate the village. She then helped us gather more information regarding the mission by using Genjutsu on a civilian kid without harming the kid. She then played her part properly by pretending to have been apprehended by the guards just outside the village. She also defeated two of Kandachi's men using her Genjutsu skills. I think she is ready for Jounin rank."

"Thank you Kakashi-kun. You may leave. Send Asuma inside and please wait outside. I'll be calling you again." the Sandaime Hokage said with a smile on his face.

Line break

As Asuma entered, Hiruzen picked up his cigar and lit it while Asuma lit his cigarette. The estranged father and son chain smoker pair looked at one another before Hiruzen asked, "How did the mission go, Asuma-kun?"

"It went really well, Hokage-sama." Asuma replied.

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere as far as improving their relationship was concerned, Hiruzen asked Asuma, "What do you think about Itane-kun?"

Asuma took a deep breath as he said, "He is an amazing ninja. His Ninjutsu was brilliant. He also used Kokuangyo no Jutsu, which was also very impressive. His Taijutsu was also good enough to handle three Amegakure ninja at once. I don't recognize the style though. It makes me wonder, where were you hiding him for so long? The man belongs at the front of the army, not in the spy network or anywhere in the shadows. Besides being an excellent ninja, he also seems to be a very good person. I would have suspected him too like Kakashi did at the beginning of the mission, but you let him sign the Saru summoning contract. I know that you won't just let anyone sign that particular scroll. Afterall even the Sannin, Ni-san or I weren't allowed to sign the scroll. It also means that Enma-sama has accepted him as the summoner. He is honest and at the same time, a little secretive. He is also brilliant in Shogi. Only Shikaku-san has beaten me 37 times on a trot. It is frustrating, but he is that good. He is actually a rather nice guy. I can't help but like him."

Hiruzen smiled at his son's answer, "Over the course of the next 12 months, you'll be doing a lot of missions with him, Kakashi and Kurenai. As you said, he belongs to the front-lines, but it isn't easy to bring a ninja from the shadows into the light. I want you, Kakashi and Kurenai to acclimatize him with the other Jounin and ninja in Konoha. Just make him much more familiar with the village in general. After these 12 months, I want you to take over as the Jounin sensei of the next generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio that will be graduating at the end of the year. Shikaku-san himself recommended you for the job."

Asuma smiled upon being recommended by Nara Shikaku, since he looked up to the man whom he could never beat in Shogi. The fact that the man trusted him with his son made Asuma truly happy, "I will help Itane-kun and I will gladly be their Jounin sensei."

Hiruzen then asked Asuma, "What do you think of Yuhi Kurenai's performance in the mission? Do you think she is ready for Jounin rank?"

Asuma smiled as he said, "She has been ready for a while. She performed really well during the mission. I think she'll do well as a Jounin."

"Okay Asuma, you may leave the room, but don't go yet. I'll call you back again. Tell Itane-kun to come in as you leave."

Line break

After Asuma left, Hiruzen relaxed in his seat. That was the one thing Hiruzen enjoyed about Naruto. With Naruto, he could just be an old man again and just relax. What more, the guy was the Rokudaime Hokage, which meant that he wasn't dealing with an immature kid, but a young powerful responsible man who hated formality. Someone he could talk to rather informally. Once again, Hiruzen sent his Anbu away as he said, "So Itane-kun, how was the mission?"

Itane himself relaxed on his seat as he replied, "It was fun, Jiji. Got a chance to fight, save a village and its people, brought down a bad guy and finally saw Hatake Kakashi's face."

Hiruzen raised his eyebrows as he asked, "How did you do that? Even I have never seen his face and I've known him since he was a kid."

Itane smiled as he said, "I nursed him, Jiji. I force fed him several medicines. I got to see his face then. Little did he know that I made those medicines taste disgusting intentionally. I could have made them taste much better. But I've a lot of reasons to punish Kakashi and this is just the beginning."

"**TRUE, THE VERY BEGINNING! WE'LL BE BREAKING THE HIP BASTARD SOON ENOUGH. IT WAS NICE TO FINALLY SEE THE SMUG BASTARD'S FACE THOUGH. SO NARUTO FINALLY GETS ONE OVER KAKASHI." **Kurama roared inside Itane's mindscape.

Hiruzen stared with widened eyes at Itane's evil smile that reminded him of Itane's own chibi version who pranked the Anbu two days back by putting glue in their masks. Hiruzen merely looked up towards the ceiling as he thought, 'God help you, Kakashi. You pissed-off the wrong man.'

"Do you think Yuhi Kurenai is ready to be a Jounin, Rokudaime-sama?" Hiruzen asked Itane.

"Don't call me that. Yes, Kurenai is ready to be a Jounin. She played her part in the mission really well." Itane said to the Sandiame.

"Then call everyone are outside back into the room." Hiruzen ordered Itane.

Once everyone was inside the room, Hiruzen ordered, "Yuhi Kurenai, please step forward!"

Kurenai took a couple of steps forward to stand and stood in front of the Hokage who announced, "Yuhi Kurenai, due to your excellent performance during your previous mission and your consistent performance in missions for Konohagakure over a long period of time, on approval from Jounin Hatake Kakashi, Jounin Sarutobi Asuma and Jounin Hakuza Itane, I would like to award you a promotion to Jounin rank. Congratulations!"

Kurenai smiled as she accepted the promotion. She then proceeded to thank the Sandaime and the other Jounin who approved her promotion. After that Hiruzen said, "Everyone except Yuhi Kurenai-san, please leave the room. Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi can go. Hakuza Itane, please wait outside."

After Kurenai had settled down, Hiruzen asked, "Jounin Kurenai, what do you think of Hakuza Itane-kun?"

Kurenai looked at the Sandaime questioningly, "Are you asking me to judge a senior officer, Sandaime-sama?"

Hiruzen just smiled as he said, "First of all, you both are of the same rank now. Second, I'm not asking you to judge him. I'm asking you to tell me how was it working with him? How did he perform during the mission? How was he in general throughout the duration of the mission? He maybe an experienced ninja, but he doesn't have much experience doing missions which involve Jounin teams?"

Kurenai smiled as she said, "I thought he was impressive throughout the mission. He had good information. He stepped in whenever necessary. He worked well with everyone. I don't think anyone can deny that he is a brilliant ninja. His Kokuangyo no Jutsu, his Ninjutsu collaboration attack of Suiton and Fuuton Ninjutsu and his Taijutsu style, which was unfamiliar to me but seemed very effective proves that he is an extremely strong ninja. He is also a good person. He saved my life earlier during the mission. His dreams and goals were also very noble. And he can hold his liquor. He didn't even seem even a little winded when we were drinking."

Hiruzen just smiled and nodded, "Kurenai, I'm having you, Asuma and Kakashi responsible for acclimatizing him to Konoha. He has probably already told you, but he has spent so much time away from home. He barely knows anyone either. Make him a normal face in Konoha. It's hard to bring someone like him out of the shadows and into the light and have everyone accept him. Even you three have been wondering who he is, where is he from, why haven't I seen him before. The others will be asking the same. Just make the transition a lot more comfortable for him. You'll be doing a lot of missions with Itane, Kakashi and Asuma over the next 12 months. After that you may get a Gennin team to train."

Kurenai nodded and accepted the unofficial mission given to her, Kakashi and Asuma by the Sandaime. She wanted to go and celebrate her promotion to Jounin rank first. She was already going through all those she wanted to call for the party: Yuugao, Anko, Hana, Asuma, Kakashi, Genma, Kotetsu, Izumo, Raido and Itane as well.

Hiruzen then told Kurenai, "You may leave now. Tell Itane to come in."

As Itane entered, Hiruzen once again sent his Anbu away and said, "I have assigned Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi in-charge of getting you familiarized with the other Jounin and ninja of Konoha. We need to make sure that no one becomes suspicious of you and just accepts you as part of the ninja force of Konoha. How is your training of your chibi-version coming along?"

Itane just shrugged as he said, "Pretty good actually. I've been teaching him the style I created with the help of Jiraiya that involves Kage-Bunshins and unpredictability. I've been making him use clones to learn. So things are going at a much faster rate. In one week, I managed to get him to solid Gennin level. If he keeps up his training, he'll get stronger. Knowing me and how I used to be, my chibi-version could easily reach high-Chunin level at the end of the year."

Hiruzen just stared wide-eyed, "That's preposterous! Jumping from below Gennin level to high Chunin level in one year is impossible!"

Itane just smiled, "That is where I come in. The only one area my chibi-version would be lacking in would be experience. While jumping that much in one year does sound preposterous, it's actually five years of training being done in one year. I'm having him use an average of five Kage-Bunshins per day. He can easily create a lot more and wants to create a lot more, but he won't be able to deal with the back-lash and continue training with more clones."

"**AND BOTH, YOU AND HE CAN ONLY DO THAT THANKS TO ME AND THE OTHER ME WHO IS IN YOUR CHIBI-VERSION. DON'T FORGET THAT." **Kurama reminded Itane inside his mindscape.

Hiruzen simply nodded.

"You may go now. I've a lot of paper work to deal with. That reminds me, as Rokudaime Hokage, please help this poor Sandaime Hokage deal with this evil known as paper-work." Hiruzen begged his successor's son.

Itane started laughing at the Sandaime's misery and said, "Jiji, Why do you think the Nidaime Hokage created the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu? I'm telling you now itself that it wasn't for information gathering. That is just plain old bull-shit. Its original purpose was something else entirely."

_Flashback no Jutsu_

_A fifteen year old Sarutobi Hiruzen had been summoned by his sensei, the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama to training ground 7._

_When he reached, Tobirama looked at him and said, "Saru during my brother's tenure as Hokage, I created a jutsu that I'm going to teach to you. I've a feeling that you'll need it more than ever someday. It is called the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu. It allows you to create solid Bunshins that can be dispelled in one hit, but when dispelled gives you all the memories that it had accumulated before being dispelled. It is easily a Jounin level technique since it requires not only a lot of chakra but along with the information, even the fatigue of the clone goes back to the user upon dispelling. Can you think of where it could be useful?"_

_Hiruzen thought for a while before he said, "It could be useful for information gathering, sensei."_

_Tobirama looked at Hiruzen as he said, "Well…"_

"_Nidaime-sama, we've been searching for you all day long. Please give us a mission, Nidaime-sama!" Danzo interrupted._

"_Fine, I'll come. Saru, here is the scroll. It'll be very very useful for you in the future, Saru" Tobirama said as he left._

_Young Sarutobi Hiruzen thought that the ending of the sentence was 'Well done' but it was actually 'Well…not really.'_

_Flashback no Jutsu Release_

As Hiruzen recalled everything, he realized it. 'Sensei, couldn't you find some time to tell me. Danzo, you bastard, you ruined my life!'

Meanwhile a cripple with bandage over his right eye sneezed. He was wondering 'Why do I feel like someone wants to kill me for ruining his life?'

When Hiruzen returned back to reality, he noticed that his successor's son had disappeared. Hiruzen immediately created three shadow clones- while the three of them divided the paperwork amongst themselves, he slowly pulled out an orange book from the bottom drawer that had been signed by the author himself, his student, Jiraiya.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**I'M SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN** **UPDATING THIS STORY. BUT I HAD A DIFFICULT TIME WITH THIS CHAPTER. THIS WAS THE ONE CHAPTER I HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH. I'VE ALSO CHANGED THE STORY A LITTLE BIT HERE AND THERE FOR THE SAKE OF THIS CHAPTER AND THE FUTURE CHAPTERS. I CHANGED THE NAME FROM ZABUHA ITANE TO HAKUZA ITANE BECAUSE A REVIEWER MENTIONED THAT HAKUZA IS THE BETTER JAPANESE NAME. I HAD TO AGREE WITH THE REVIEWER. ALSO FROM NEXT CHAPTER ONWARDS IT'S GOING TO BE CANON. YES I'M GOING TO HAVE A TIMESKIP AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. I'VE ALSO BEEN GOING OVER THE POSSIBLE PAIRINGS FOR BOTH ITANE AND NARUTO. IT WON'T BE A NARUTO X HINATA AFFAIR THAT MUCH I CAN GUARANTEE YOU. I'M NOT A BIG FAN OF THE PAIRING AND TILL THE PAIN ARC, I THOUGHT OF HER AS A USELESS CHARACTER. WHILE I DON'T MIND NARUTO ENDING UP WITH HINATA, I CAN'T PAIR UP NARUTO AND HINATA STRAIGHT AWAY SINCE THIS IS PRE-SHIPPUDEN. ALSO THERE WON'T BE ITANE X KURENAI. I LOVE KURENAI, BUT SHE IS GOING TO BE WITH ASUMA. I WANT HER TO BE LIKE A BIG SISTER TO ITANE. THERE WON'T BE YAOI EITHER. WHILE I'VE GOT NOTHING AGAINST YAOI, SINCE I DO READ YAOI. I'M JUST NOT YET READY TO WRITE A YAOI STORY. THERE WILL BE A BLIND POLLL FOR BOTH.**

**THE OPTIONS FOR NARUTO'S PAIRINGS ARE:**

**1)NARUTO X HAKU (FEMALE. I'LL KEEP HER ALIVE)**

**2)NARUTO X SAKURA (I HATE HER. BUT WITH ITANE'S INFLUENCE I MIGHT BE ABLE TO CHANGE HER)**

**3)NARUTO X INO (I DIDN'T LIKE HER MUCH PRE-SHIPPUDEN. BUT I DO FIND HER KIND OF HOT)**

**4)NARUTO X TENTEN (I TRULY LIKE HER. TOO BAD KISHI DIDN'T GIVE HER MUCH SCREEN TIME)**

**5)NARUTO X TEMARI (ANOTHER CHARACTER I REALLY LIKE. BUT KISHI SEEMS TO LIKE SHIKA-TEMARI)**

**6)NARUTO X KARIN (UZUMAKI DUO. CAN WORK)**

**7)NARUTO X TAYUYA (THAT'LL BE HARD. BUT NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE)**

**THE OPTIONS FOR ITANE'S PAIRINGS ARE:**

**1)ITANE X YUUGAO (LOOKS GREAT. IS AN ANBU)**

**2)ITANE X MEI (I LOVE HER. I JUST LOVE HER)**

**3)ITANE X SHIZUNE (CAN BE EASILY DONE)**

**4)ITANE X ANKO (I LOVE HER DESPITE EVERYTHING)**

**5)ITANE X YUGITO (IT'LL BE HARD. BUT I KNOW I CAN DO IT)**

**6)ITANE X MABUI (PROBABLY HARDER. BUT I CAN DO IT)**

**7)ITANE X HANA (SHOULDN'T BE DIFFICULT AT ALL)**

**8)ITANE X KONAN (WILL HAVE TO WAIT TILL I REACH ATLEAST SHIPPUDEN PART)**

**SINCE I CAN PUT ONLY ONE POLL ON MY PROFILE, I'LL BE PUTTING THE NARUTO PAIRING ON MY PROFILE. FOR ITANE'S PAIRING, JUST PM ME OR TYPE IN REVIEW, WHO YOU WANT.**


	5. Chapter 5-Graduation Exam

**CHAPTER 5: GRADUATION EXAM**

A year had passed by since the Rokudaime Hokage, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto had gone ten years back into the past and assumed the identity of Jounin Hakuza Itane. During the course of the year, Itane had trained his younger version to be a better ninja, done several missions with other Jounins and had become a more familiar face within Konoha.

Kakashi, Asuma and Kurenai had introduced Itane to the other Jounin and some other well-known faces within Konoha and Itane had become friends with all of them. Itane had managed to push Asuma into asking Kurenai out for a date, which she accepted. The two of them had become a couple. In just a couple of months, Itane had become like a younger brother to both Asuma and Kurenai. The two of them would often invite him over for Lunch, after which Asuma would challenge Itane to some games of Shogi, losing every single time, before Kurenai would take him with out with her for some evening drinks. It was a little strange for Itane initially, because he hadn't interacted much with Asuma and Kurenai in his timeline. His only interaction with Asuma was when he trying to learn how to cut a leaf for his Fuuton manipulation. His only interactions with Kurenai were when he was with Hinata, Kiba, Shino or Shikamaru. Both Asuma and Kurenai had grown on him so much that he would often refer to Kurenai as Kurenai-neesan. Asuma hated being called ni-san so Itane never called him that unless he wanted to rile him up. Itane also had Asuma improve his relationship with his father. Eventually both Hiruzen and Asuma were in good terms again. Hiruzen also approved Asuma's relationship with Kurenai and would often tease him about giving him more grand-children. Kakashi on the other hand didn't interact much with Itane, despite the Sandaime's request till Itane met Gai.

During one of their missions together, Kakashi noticed Itane's Taijutsu style and confronted him about it. Itane told him about the Counter Fist style that he had created. Kakashi then introduced Itane to Maito Gai, the Jounin Taijutsu master of Konoha, who had thick bushy eye-brows, a shiny bowl haircut and wore a green jumpsuit. Gai who was with his Gennin team comprising of Hyuuga Negi, Higurashi Tenten and Rock Lee at that time sparred against Itane. The spar was pretty even since neither were going all-out. Gai then complimented Itane's 'youthfulness' for creating an entirely new Taijutsu style and mastering it. Unfortunately for Itane, he stayed too long as he once again had to witness Gai's and Lee's unbreakable Genjutsu where they hug each other on a beach in front of a setting sun. Despite all of Kurama's attempts, they couldn't break the Genjutsu. Within his mindscape, Kurama was yelling, **"I'D PREFER MADARA'S GENJUTSU ANY DAY OVER THIS!"**

Ever since then, Itane would often seek out Gai, just to tell him Kakashi's location and then tell him, "Gai-san, Kakashi-san is very bored and is currently reading his 'unyouthful' book…I think he needs a challenge to ignite his 'youthful' energy." The magic words would send Gai running towards Kakashi at full speed. Kakashi's only remaining hiding place was the Memorial stone, where neither Itane nor Gai would disturb him. Though he never showed it, Kakashi's respect for Itane grew by leaps and bounds with every mission they did together. While Kakashi led most of their missions, Itane led on quite a few missions as well, where the Jounin got a chance to witness the leadership skills of the red-haired man who was the Rokudaime Hokage in his timeline. Kakashi admired the way in which Itane took charge of the missions where he was the leader. By the end of the year, Kakashi had nothing but admiration for Itane's power, leadership quality, intelligence, talent and personality.

Over the course of the year, Itane met several Jounin, Chunin and Tokubetsu Jounin in Konoha. At Kurenai's party to celebrate her promotion, he met Uzuki Yugao and her boyfriend, Gekko Hayate, whom he recognized as the proctor during the preliminary rounds after the second stage of the Chunin exams, Inuzuka Hana, who he knew was Kiba's older sister, Mitarashi Anko, whom he could never forget, Shiranui Genma, whom he recognized as the proctor during the third stage of the Chunin exams, Raido, who he knew was a Chunin from his time as Hokage, Aoba, who had gone with him to Shimagame where he trained with Bee to control Kurama's chakra, and Kotetsu and Izumo, who he knew as the eternal Chunin guards of Konoha. He got along well with all of them. He however kept his distance from Anko, who would either pinch or spank his butt, or press her breasts up against his chest or hug him from behind every time she saw him. She also referred to him as 'cutie'. He didn't hate her. But ever since their first meeting at the Forest of Death, he was scared of her.

Over the course of the year, Itane also met with Jounin commander, Nara Shikaku, and the chief of the Torture and Interrogation department, Morino Ibiki. Shikaku first noticed Itane at the Jounin council meeting where all the Jounin of the village were to be present. Shikaku noticed his good friend Yamanaka Inoichi bowing his head slightly, as a sign of respect and greeting Itane. Shikaku knew that Inoichi wasn't someone who would bow his head down and respect just about anyone. So Shikaku approached Itane in an attempt to get to know him which soon resulted in a Shogi match between the Jounin commander and Itane. Soon Hakuza Itane became one of the few people to have defeated Nara Shikaku in a Shogi match in Konoha besides the Sandaime Hokage and the Yondaime Hokage. Since then Shikaku and Itane played several Shogi matches against one another, Shikaku won a few and so did Itane, but most of them were draws.

Morino Ibiki first met Itane, when the red-haired Jounin captured a ninja who was suspected of spying on Konoha. Ibiki seeing Itane for the first time, suspected Itane of being an enemy spy himself. Ibiki then proceeded to ask Itane some questions that would seem normal to everyone but the torturer and the tortured. Ibiki tried cornering him, but Itane seemed calm and collected as he answered the questions. After an hour of talking, Ibiki was convinced that Itane wasn't an enemy spy, but a man with several secrets. Ibiki also respected the man's mental strength. But that only lasted till Itane found himself lifted above the ground and being twirled around in a vicious bear hug by Mitarashi Anko who yelled, "Itane-kun, what are you doing here? Did you come to see me? Did you miss me?"

Itane who managed to break free from the bear hug, was struggling for words as he said, "A…Anko-san, I…I came to hand this man…to Ibiki-san. I've to go now. Bye." as he ran at full speed from the room. Ibiki turned towards Anko, who looked disappointed that he was gone.

Over the course of the year, Itane sent several men to Ibiki for interrogation, that he became a familiar face to the T&amp;I members who thought of him as a good friend of Ibiki who feared Anko and brought them their next victims. Kurama often made fun of Itane's fear of Anko saying, **"IF KONOHA EVER WANTED TO TORTURE OR INTERROGATE YOU, ALL THEY WOULD HAVE TO DO IS SEND YOU OVER TO ANKO. SHE WOULD PROBABLY SPANK YOUR ASS TILL YOU CRACK. HAHAHAHA!"**

Itane always complained that Kurama never warned him when Anko was nearby. Kurama's response was, **"LIKE I WOULD EVER DO THAT. SHE GETS YOU FLUSTERED, WHICH IS FUN TO WATCH AND KURAMA LOVES HIS FUN."**

While he had become friends with so many ninjas over the course of the year, he made sure that no one knew that he was training Naruto secretly at the Forest of Death. When they were training, he would put a lot of seals to make sure that no one ran into them while they were training.

Due to his sudden appearance, Koharu, Homura and Danzo apparently suspected him of being a spy and confronted Hiruzen about it. Hiruzen calmly replied that Itane was a former Konoha spy and Oinin, whose identity had been compromised and whom he had deemed good enough to be a Jounin. Hiruzen further stated that Itane had brought back vital information for Konoha that are for Hokage's eyes only. To further silence, Hiruzen mentioned that Itane had signed his Saru summoning contract a long time ago. Though the explanation seemed to have silenced the advisors, Itane often found some root ninja following him. Knowing that Danzo was suspicious and had assigned some men to watch over him, he decided to play with them. He would often send them running around in circles, before disappearing into his apartment using the Hiraishin as soon as he was out of the line of sight of his trackers and pursuers. On one such occasion, he felt Sai's ink rats following him. But he managed to stab them before disappearing, thereby ensuring that Sai never got the information to hand over to Danzo. He also made a mental note to take care of Danzo at some point and free Sai. To make sure that he was never tracked down, Itane used seals in his apartment that completely hid his chakra. If he wanted to go somewhere, he would first sense for a very safe location at the Forest of Death and Hiraishin himself over there with some invisible seals before heading to wherever he wanted to. If Hiruzen needed Itane, he would reverse summon Itane to his office or throw a Hiraishin kunai on to his desk. This way, no one knew where Itane stayed except for Kurenai, Kakashi and Asuma, who were told to keep it a secret by Itane and the Hokage, since they didn't want Danzo to know.

Itane was now eating his breakfast with Naruto as he said, "Kid, you know what you're supposed to do, right?"

Naruto raised his head from the plate as he said, "Yup. I must fail the graduation exam today."

Itane smiled as he said, "Yup you'll graduate if you fail the graduation exams today. Don't forget to act disappointed upon failing the graduation exam. Yesterday's training session was your last training session for the mission. After this, you'll be training under your new Jounin sensei."

Naruto looked sad as he asked, "Itane-sensei, will you be my Jounin sensei?"

Itane, who was happy to know that he had become an important person for his younger self smiled as he said, "No, it won't be me. It'll be someone else. I didn't apply to be a Jounin sensei at all. From now on, you'll be doing missions as a team with two other Gennin with someone else in charge. He should also help your training. But if you need any help you can come to me. I know most of the Jounin already. I'm your neighbor afterall. You can come over whenever you want."

Naruto jumped from his seat and hugged Itane while crying, "Thank you!"

Itane patted Naruto on his back and said, "Now eat your breakfast. You'll need your energy to fail and then you'll have to deal with the traitor yourself. I won't be helping you at all. That ofcourse will be your real graduation exam."

After breakfast, Naruto left while Itane headed to the Sandaime's office to watch everything through the Sandaime's crystal ball.

When Itane arrived, the Sandaime Hokage sent his Anbu away and asked, "So how strong is Naruto now, Hakuza Itane-kun?"

"Well, he is a solid high-Chunin. Could even be a Tokubetsu Jounin if he had experience." Itane replied.

Hiruzen merely smiled as he said, "If someone told me a year back that, that kid would be good enough to be a Tokubetsu Jounin if he had experience with just a year of training, I would have probably laughed my ass off. But then again, he is the son of one of the greatest shinobi I've ever known and also the future Rokudaime."

Hiruzen's smile turned into a grimace as he then asked, "Why did you have him play pranks though? I thought with you teaching him that would have ended. Last week, he sneaked into the Anbu Headquarters, put itching powder in all of their uniforms, then he sneaked into my office, used his Oiroke no Jutsu on me, sprayed I'm a pervert on my robes. At the Hyuuga estate, he managed to put his old bright orange jumpsuit in their laundry, which turned all their clothes into bright orange color with graffiti outside their estate that said, 'We are an orange nation'. At the Nara complex, he set all their alarms at 4 am in the morning and removed the switch off button from the alarm clocks and painted graffiti all over the place that said 'I'm a lazy ass', which is still there because they found it too troublesome to wipe off. At the Yamanaka estate, he put a pink dye in all their shampoos, because of which all of their hair turned pink in color and he then painted graffiti which said, 'There is place only for one blond in the village'. At the Akimichi estate, he somehow managed to slip in a sleeping pill into their food, painted all their faces including Choza's into kabuki faces and then painted graffiti on their estate that said, 'We're fat. Not big boned'. At the Inuzuka estate, he sent fleas into their compound and onto their dogs and painted graffiti that read 'We bark more than we bite'. At the Aburame estate, he stole all their sunglasses, piled them up together and covered the pile with anti-bug sprays and then painted graffiti that said, 'We are blind, we don't talk and we're covered with bugs'. He then painted the Hokage monument again, though this time, he painted it properly with the right colors with the words, 'We need more color in the village' written under the monument. Hiashi, Tsume, Shikaku, Inoichi, Shibi and Choza were all really pissed at the boy. I, on the other hand, didn't know whether to laugh or cry at those pranks."

Itane simply laughed, "That was part of his training. The one he played last week was his final exam from me. He passed it with flying colors. Don't worry Jiji that was his last prank. He won't be committing any more of such high scale pranks."

"What do you mean by high scale pranks? Couldn't you have told him to stop pranking completely? His pranks end up as huge stacks of paperwork. Even with clones, they're too many." Hiruzen asked fearing the worst.

"No. I'll never tell him to stop pranking completely. I'm going to encourage him to prank Kakashi in the future. Besides I won most of my battles during my initial years as a ninja because of my pranking skills."

Hiruzen accepted Itane's explanation. He and Itane have had several laughs over drinks in the last few months about how Itane would use Gai to prank Kakashi and give him barely any reading time. Hiruzen had to admit that the last one year had been the best year for him as Hokage. It was partly due to his clones, but also due to Itane making it so easy for him to slip into his age and be an old man, when the village wasn't letting him be one. Whenever he was free, Hiruzen would send the Anbu away and summon Itane over, the two would talk about things that would happen in the future. Itane would tell stories from his past as which would happen in the future, while Hiruzen would talk about good old times, when Danzo was still his friend, when Orochimaru was still his little student, when Tsunade was still in the village, when Asuma's brother was still alive, when Minato and Kushina were kids and when his wife, Biwako was alive and young.

Hiruzen looked into his crystal ball with Itane, where they saw Naruto attempt to pull off a regular Bunshin and fail as he asked, "What all did you teach Naruto? Tell me in detail."

Itane simply smiled, "Can't wait now. Can you?"

Hiruzen just chuckled as he said, "No, I can't. That's the thing about being old. Waiting for too long in anticipation is bad for your heart."

Itane chuckled as he said, "Taking advantage of your old age, huh. Well, since you want to know that badly, I'll tell you." He paused before saying, "I first taught him the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu as you already know. I've greatly improved his chakra control. Now without even thinking, he can fight on water as long as he wants to. His speed is another thing I've worked on. He is about as fast as Rock Lee now at full speed. His Taijutsu in one word is unpredictable. He uses clones to aide his Taijutsu. He can break out of most Genjutsu that are below high-Jounin level. He can't cast any Genjutsu though. As far as Ninjutsu is concerned, I've taught him two A-rank, two B-rank and two C-rank Fuuton ninjutsu techniques. The A-rank jutsus I've taught him are Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba and Fuuton: Fuujin no Jutsu. The B-rank jutsus that he can use are Fuuton: Atsugai and Fuuton: Shinkuuha. The C-rank jutsus he knows are Fuuton: Daitoppa and Fuuton: Reppuusho. I've also introduced him to Fuinjutsu, but he is just at beginner level. Anyways, Mizuki shouldn't be a problem at all for him."

"**HE WASN'T A PROBLEM FOR YOU BACK WHEN YOU WERE A KID. HE WOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM FOR YOUR YOUNGER VERSION NOW WHO IS WAY STRONGER THAN YOU WERE" **Kurama said in Itane's mindscape choosing the moment to interrupt **"YOU'RE FEELING A LITTLE JEALOUS AREN'T YOU?"**

Kurama began teasing Itane.

"Jealous? Why would I feel jealous? I'm the one who trained him afterall." Itane replied back.

"**SURE YOU DID. BUT IF YOU FROM BACK THEN WERE TO FIGHT YOUR YOUNGER VERSION FROM THIS TIMELINE, HE WOULD KICK YOUR ASS IN LESS THAN A SECOND." **

Itane curled up at a corner in his mindscape as he began sulking, "It isn't fair dattebayo. He got a teacher, while I had nothing. It was all self-taught crap for me."

Kurama if anything hated it when his Jinchuuriki sulked inside his mindscape, **"OI, GO SULK SOMEWHERE ELSE. AND BY THE WAY, YOU USED 'DATTEBAYO' WHEN YOU WERE TALKING JUST NOW. YOU'VE CONTROLLED IT WELL ENOUGH AND HAVEN'T USED IT AT ALL DESPITE FEELING THE URGE TO SAY IT EVERY NOW AND THEN. USE THE WORD IN FRONT OF ANYONE OTHER THAN ME AND HIRUZEN AND YOU MIGHT JUST REVEAL YOUR TRUE IDENTITY."**

"Damn, thanks Kurama. I guess it just slipped out once again. Good thing it was in the mindscape where no one can hear. As for the sulking, that is your fault. So suck it up." Itane yelled at Kurama.

His conversation was suddenly interrupted when a young Uzumaki Naruto barged into the room. As soon as Naruto entered, he began yelling, "Jiji, Sensei, it is Mizuki. He is the traitor. He just told me that there is a make-up test and I've to steal the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Tower, learn a jutsu from it and go to a warehouse in the forest at the Eastern part of the village and show him the jutsu to pass the graduation exam."

"So he wants you to steal the Scroll of Seals after which Hokage-sama here would announce that you have stolen the Scroll thereby sending the Chunin, Jounin and Anbu all around the place in panic, before he finds you and kills you and then runs away with the Scroll. Nice plan." Itane said playing his act.

"Then, why don't we let it go according to his plan. He surely spent a lot of time making it. Let's help is plan succeed." Hiruzen said with an evil smile.

"Heh…you want him to kill me and run away with the scroll?" Naruto shrieked.

"No Naruto-kun. I'll give you a Scroll. While you head to the warehouse, I'll announce that you have stolen the Scroll of Seals. I want you to then pretend as if you are reading through the Scroll. Also try to look a little worked up. Just cut your clothes a little with a kunai and also apply some dirt on your body and your clothes. You'll be throwing away your orange jumpsuit anyway at the end of the mission. So make it look messy so as to make Mizuki believe that you've been practicing some jutsu from the scroll. Also if anyone finds you, tell them that Mizuki is the one who told you to do it and learn a jutsu from it to graduate. Eventually when Mizuki turns up, pretend to be the idiot for some more time. When he attacks you, be prepared to destroy him. Itane tells me that Mizuki shouldn't be a match for you at all. Make sure you defeat Mizuki. That is your new mission now, Gennin Uzumaki Naruto. You'll get your hitai-ate upon completion of the mission." The Sandaime Hokage ordered the young Jinchuuriki.

Line Break

Naruto cut his clothes at certain areas with his kunai and applied some dirt on himself as he pretended to read the Scroll which was actually just a summoning scroll. Itane had prepared the scroll just for the Mizuki. He told Naruto to summon him using the scroll after defeating Mizuki. Meanwhile the Sandaime and the Rokudaime Hokage were watching the events through the crystal ball.

Suddenly Iruka appeared where Naruto was sitting with the scroll. He approached Naruto looking at him menacingly, "It's all over!"

Seeing Iruka in front of him, Naruto decided to play the idiot, "You found me already, huh. You're quick sensei. I only had time to learn one jutsu."

Iruka who had been fooled thought, 'He has been out here practicing.'

Naruto smiled and continued playing the idiot, "Listen Iruka-sensei, I'm going to show you this amazing jutsu and you're gonna let me graduate and then everything will be okay. That's the way it works right? Anyone who performs a jutsu on this scroll passes."

"Huh! Where did you get that idea?" Iruka asked wondering what Naruto was talking about.

"Mizuki-sensei told me about this scroll and this place…" Naruto continued before suddenly a barrage of kunais came flying towards them. Iruka pushed Naruto away and took them all while covering his vitals. One of those kunai pierced his leg.

"So you found our little hide-away, Iruka?" Mizuki said as he appeared the branch of a tree in front of them.

"Naruto, give me the scroll now." Mizuki ordered Naruto.

Just then Iruka removed the kunai on his leg and shouted, "Naruto, don't give him the scroll. It contains forbidden jutsu that can put the village in great danger. Mizuki used you to get the scroll for himself for his own power."

Naruto looked towards Mizuki, prepared to act. But Mizuki just calmly said, "Naruto, Iruka is just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll."

"Stop lying Mizuki. Don't let him trick you, Naruto." Iruka yelled.

Mizuki just smirked as he said, "Oh I'll tell you who is really lying. They've been lying to you your whole life, Naruto, since the rule 12 years ago. Everyone knows about this except you. Iruka's doing it even now. He'll do anything to shut me up."

"Don't tell him. It's forbidden." Iruka yelled at Mizuki who continued to ignore Iruka.

"The rule is that no one can tell that the Kyuubi is inside you. The Kyuubi that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body. You're the Kyuubi."

"Stop it!" Iruka yelled at Mizuki who was still ignoring him. Naruto meanwhile just kept looking at the ground as Mizuki continued, "They've all been sneaking around, and hiding things from you your whole life. Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you like dirt? They hated you for just being alive. That's why you'll never be accepted in this village. Even Iruka hates your guts. DIE NARUTO!" Mizuki yelled as he threw a Fuuma Shuriken at Naruto.

Iruka screamed at the top of his voice, "NARUTO, GET DOWN!"

Naruto bent down as Iruka covered him. However the Fuuma Shuriken that was supposed to have pierced his back never came.

Iruka look behind him in shock to see another Naruto holding the Fuuma Shuriken an inch away from his body. Iruka looked back under him to see the Naruto smiling at him before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Iruka then turned to Naruto behind his back that was holding back the Fuuma Shuriken who said, "Mizuki-teme, you made a big mistake when you decided to use me and betray the village. I've known about the fox being sealed in my gut for over a year. The entire thing was planned. Just like your plan to bring me out here, kill me and walk away from the village with the Scroll of Seals, we too made plans, bring you to this location, trap you and then kill you. Iruka-sensei not only messed up your plans, but also ours. But it doesn't matter. You're going to die anyway. The scroll I brought with me was not the Scroll of Seals, it is merely a Summoning scroll to summon a certain Jounin who would take away your body."

Mizuki simply looked on in shock. He couldn't believe what was going on, 'Naruto is supposed to be a kid who can't even create a standing Bunshin. Did he just create a Kage-Bunshin. And what about all the stuff about everything being planned and the Scroll of Seals being a Summoning scroll to summon a Jounin. No, it can't be. I planned all this in such detail. I'm going to kill the kid anyway.'

Mizuki's thoughts were interrupted when Naruto said, "Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-teme, you keep asking me to perform the Bunshin no jutsu during my graduation exams, right. Let me show you how it's done then."

"Taju Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu" Naruto yelled as the forest got filled with a thousand solid copies of Naruto.

Mizuki and Iruka looked around them in shock, 'Kage-Bunshin. That is a Jounin level technique. Are you telling me that these are all solid clones? Even the best Jounin cannot make more than ten such clones. How can he make this many at once?'

Due to the shock, Mizuki didn't even get time to substitute as all the clones jumped on top of him and pounded him with their fists.

Line Break

Meanwhile the Hiruzen and Itane watched the proceedings through Hiruzen's crystal ball. While Hiruzen was smiling at seeing the young boy create so many Kage-Bunshins, Itane was grimacing, 'I trained him for an entire year and he defeats Mizuki the same way I did.'

Kurama was laughing in Itane's mindscape, **"WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? HE IS YOUR CHIBI VERSION AFTERALL. IT'S IN YOUR NATURE TO DO EVERYTHING WITH A THOUSAND KAGE-BUNSHINS. BESIDES MIZUKI WAS WEAK. AGAINST KAKASHI, HE'LL HAVE TO DO A LOT MORE, THOUGH." **

Line Break

After beating Mizuki, Naruto turned towards Iruka, "You okay, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka called Naruto over, "Come over here and close your eyes."

Naruto went towards Iruka and closed his eyes. After some time he heard Iruka's voice, "Okay, you can open your eyes now."

As Naruto opened his eyes, he noticed that Iruka's hitai-ate was missing and he was holding Naruto's goggles.

"Congratulations! You graduate! And to celebrate, we're going out to have ramen tonight." Iruka said with a smile.

Naruto felt Iruka's hitai-ate on his forehead as he jumped at Iruka and hugged him tight. A year back, he really wanted to wear the Konoha hitai-ate, but Iruka and Itane never allowed him to wear theirs.

Iruka hugged Naruto back before he asked, "What was all that about everything being planned? Hokage-sama clearly told everyone that you stole the Scroll of Seals, but you just said it was a Summoning scroll to summon a Jounin. If that were the case, from where did you learn something as advanced as the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu and how did you create so many?"

Naruto just smiled not knowing how to answer all those questions before walking back towards the scroll and opening it.

"I think it would be best if he answered all your questions, Iruka-sensei." Naruto said as he slammed his hand in the middle of the Scroll. Out of the Scroll came a man about Iruka's age about an inch shorter than him with red hair, a small red goatee and violet eyes wearing a regular Jounin outfit. He turned to see a badly beaten up Mizuki and said, "Seems like you are done here."

He then turned to Iruka and said, "Hi, My name is Hakuza Itane. I'll be taking Mizuki's body. I'm sure you have a lot of questions. We'll answer all of them at the Hokage's office. Naruto, bring him along."

Itane took Mizuki's body and Shunshined to the T&amp;I office, where he handed Mizuki over to Ibiki and told him that Mizuki was going to betray Konoha for Orochimaru. He then disappeared from there before Anko could spot him. Itane then left for the Hokage's office.

Meanwhile Naruto asked Iruka, "Iruka-sensei, why did you jump in take the Fuuma-Shuriken on your back for me?"

Iruka looked at him with a sad smile, "Because, we're the same. When I lost my parents, no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me. They just forgot I was there. My grades dropped. I became the class clown. I just wanted people to notice me. I did stupid things and had to pay for it. It was hard. I know that's how you feel too. You feel lonely and it hurts inside. I couldn't be there for you more. I let you down. No one should have to suffer that much. No one should be alone like that. I'm so sorry."  
Naruto felt tears in his eyes as he said, "Thank you, sensei. Don't be sorry. Let's head to the Hokage's office. All your questions will be answered there."

Line Break

As Naruto and Iruka entered the Hokage office, they noticed the Hokage waiting for them with Itane, who was sitting on the couch.

"Come in and have a seat, Naruto, Iruka."

As Iruka and Naruto took their seats, Hiruzen said, "I realize you have a lot of questions, Iruka. But before that, let me introduce you to Jounin Hakuza Itane. You met him a little while earlier."

Iruka turned his head to look at Itane who simply smiled in reply as Hiruzen continued, "Itane is a former Konoha spy and Oinin who was outside the village on various assignments till last year. He intercepted the communication between Orochimaru and a certain traitor in the academy. The traitor was trying to join Orochimaru, who in return wanted the traitor to get him the Scroll of Seals. After a few months the traitor said that he would use the Kyuubi, who is the dead-last in the academy to get the scroll and then he'll kill him and bring the Scroll to Orochimaru. We didn't know the identity of the said traitor, but we did know it wasn't you since he mentioned that you, Iruka could be a thorn since you're friendly with the Kyuubi brat. Itane then later returned to Konoha since his identity was compromised during one of his spying missions. He managed to save himself and bring back the vital information but I was forced to reinstate him among the Jounin forces. That was when we decided to let Naruto-kun here learn about the Kyuubi being sealed in him by the Yondaime Hokage. We then assigned Naruto a mission. His mission was to fail the graduation exam and have the traitor approach him. Once we learn the identity of the traitor, we'll take him down. During the course of the mission Itane would train Naruto. If he showed any of the skills he learnt from Itane at the academy, he'd have compromised the mission, so Naruto was ordered to hide his skills and play the idiot while receiving high quality training from Itane. When we learnt that Mizuki was the traitor from Naruto, Itane asked Naruto to take care of it, since he deemed Naruto to be way stronger than Mizuki. You being involved wasn't part of the plan. We didn't expect you to find Naruto. I'm really sorry about your injuries, Iruka-kun. Since you took part in this mission as well, I'm willing to pay you the same amount I'm paying Naruto for the mission. Here's your pay for a successfully accomplished A-rank mission."

Iruka looked totally shocked at the Hokage, Itane and Naruto. He couldn't believe that Naruto had made a fool out of all of them but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel proud of the boy whom he thought of as a younger brother. The boy seemed to have a lot of potential.

"I have one last question, Hokage-sama. Naruto performed the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu during the fight against Mizuki and created a thousand such clones. I don't think anyone can perform that many Kage-Bunshins, not even you Hokage-sama. How did Naruto create that many?" Iruka asked the Sandaime.

Itane was the one who answered, "Iruka-san, haven't you wondered why Naruto can't perform a single Bunshin? In fact, even now despite all the training and the chakra control exercises that I have him practice every single day, he can't create a single regular Bunshin. It is because he has the Kyuubi in him. The Kyuubi was sealed in him the day he was born and because of that he has got a much greater and denser chakra than anyone in the village and its still growing. So Naruto can never perform something as simple as the Bunshin no Jutsu because it requires the least amount of chakra. Even with all the chakra control training, the least amount of chakra Naruto can gather would be greater than the total chakra in a beginner academy student. The Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu is perfect for someone like him as he has the chakra to perform such jutsu. To get Naruto to the level he is now, I had him train using several clones at once. The experience of the clones goes back to the user and so I had him use five clones a day on average for training. I didn't want him to use more, because of the memory backlash and collective fatigue that can be too hard to handle if many clones dispelled at once.

Iruka nodded at the reply. He then turned to Naruto had ruffled the boy's hair before saying, "Thanks Hokage-sama. See you later, Naruto. You too Itane-san. I better go and get this wound on my leg treated."

Iruka then left the office. Once Iruka was gone, the Sandaime turned to Naruto and said, "Congratulations on completing the mission, Gennin Uzumaki Naruto! Also Congratulations on your graduation! Here is your A-rank pay. You can now show your true skills but here is my advice; Save them for your Jounin sensei. At some point, he'll test your skills. It'd be best to surprise him then."

Naruto chose the moment to ask, "Jiji, who is going to be my Jounin sensei? And who are going to be my teammates?"

Hiruzen simply smiled at the boy's curiosity, "Now that's a surprise that'll have to wait, Naruto-kun."

Naruto pouted at Hiruzen's reply. Itane just smiled and ruffled his hair as he said, "Come on, Naruto. Iruka promised a Ramen dinner for you, right. How about we make it only ramen for the day? You haven't done that in a long time, right? Come on. Let's go to Ichiraku's."

That cheered up Naruto as he jumped out of seat and ran towards the door with Itane. The Sandaime watched with a smile as the two of them left his room.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I KNOW THAT THIS IS A SHORTER CHAPTER COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS ONE, BUT PLEASE DON'T EXPECT 10,000+ WORDS CHAPTERS EVERY TIME. EXCEPT THE FIRST CHAPTER, THE REST WILL HAVE 5,000+ WORDS. THIS ONE HAS 6,000+. ANYWAYS, YOU GUYS ARE GETTING TWO CHAPTERS IN A WEEK, SO BE HAPPY. I THOUGHT THAT THIS WOULD BE A DECENT END TO THE CHAPTER. I'M NOT TOO HAPPY ABOUT THIS CHAPTER, BUT IT WILL HAVE TO DO. I WAS HOPING TO HAVE NARUTO DO A LOT MORE IN THIS CHAPTER, BUT MIZUKI WAS SO WEAK THAT KAGE-BUNSHINS ITSELF WAS OVERKILL. I GUARANTEE THAT YOU'LL ENJOY THE NEXT CHAPTER. I'M ALREADY HAVING A LOT OF FUN TYPING IT. **

**I RECEIVED SOME CRITICISM FOR THE LAST CHAPTER WHEN I MENTIONED THAT IT WON'T BE A NARU-HINA PAIRING. I EVEN LOST SOME READERS BECAUSE OF THAT, BUT I'M NOT CHANGING MY MIND. I'M NOT GOING TO TYPE TOO MANY FAINTINGS IN THE STORY. I HONESTLY FOUND ALL OF THAT VERY WEAK. HINATA BECAME AN AWESOME CHARACTER IN MY BOOK ONLY AFTER THE PAIN ARC, WHERE SHE STEPPED UP AGAINST HIM AND TOLD NARUTO HER TRUE FEELINGS. **

**WHILE I'M NOT A BIG FAN OF HAREMS, IT DOES SEEM VERY LIKELY THAT I MAY HAVE TO TURN THIS INTO ONE. WHAT I'VE DECIDED FOR NOW IS THAT, IF THERE IS A TIE AT THE TOP IN THE VOTES, THEN THE STORY WILL END UP AS A HAREM WITH THE ONES IN THE LEAD. THE VOTING WILL CLOSE AS SOON AS I'M DONE WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER, WHICH COULD BE WITHIN A FEW DAYS, OR A WEEK. SO VOTE FAST. ALSO PLEASE REMEMBER THAT TO VOTE FOR NARUTO'S PAIR, YOU HAVE TO GO TO MY PROFILE PAGE, WHERE THERE IS A LINK THAT WOULD REDIRECT YOU TO THE POLL. THE VOTING FOR ITANE'S PAIR ON THE OTHER HAND CAN BE DONE THROUGH REVIEWS OR THROUGH PM. I'VE CONSIDERED ALL THE VOTES FOR NARUTO'S PAIR THAT WHERE SEND TO ME THROUGH PMS AND REVIEWS TILL NOW, BUT FROM NOW ON, THEY WON'T BE CONSIDERED. THESE ARE THE RESULTS SO FAR:**

**NARUTO'S PAIRING:**

**1) NARUTO X FEMALE HAKU - 8**

**2) NARUTO X TEMARI - 8**

**3) NARUTO X KARIN - 7**

**4) NARUTO X INO - 6**

**5) NARUTO X TAYUYA - 6**

**6) NARUTO X TENTEN - 4**

**7) NARUTO X SAKURA - 3**

**ITANE'S PAIRING:**

**1) ITANE X MEI - 9**

**2) ITANE X ANKO - 9**

**3) ITANE X SHIZUNE - 4**

**4) ITANE X KONAN - 4**

**5) ITANE X MABUI - 3**

**6) ITANE X SAMUI - 3**

**7) ITANE X YUGITO - 2**

**8) ITANE X HANA - 1**


	6. Chapter 6-Team 7

**CHAPTER 6: TEAM 7**

A week had passed by since Mizuki's arrest. During the week, Naruto had his photo taken with the Kabuki painting on him. He also had run into the Sandaime's grandson, Konohamaru, who became Naruto's biggest fan. Naruto used his Oiroke no Jutsu on the Sandaime Hokage, taught the Jutsu to Konohamaru and then combined it with his Taju Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu to create his Harem no Jutsu and flatten Ebisu. Itane during his time with the Sandaime often saw Konohamaru, but he decided to leave it to Naruto to straighten the brat. It often reminded him of his little protégé, who learnt not only the Oiroke no Jutsu, but also the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu, the Rasengan and the Odama Rasengan from him. It also reminded him of the Oiroke no Jutsu challenges they had with one another, Konohamaru never managed to beat him even once.

Today was the day the Genin teams were meeting their Jounin sensei. Itane didn't want to miss Naruto's meeting with Kakashi, so he went to the Hokage's office to watch the proceedings through the old man's crystal ball.

As Itane entered the Hokage's office, Hiruzen said, "You know, I thought you would have stopped him from using the Oiroke no Jutsu. It is a silly little Jutsu. He is still too childish. His ninja photo had him with Kabuki make-up."

Itan smiled, "I said I would train him, not end his childhood. If you call his photo with the Kabuki make-up childish, what do you call Jiraiya's introduction speech with the Kabuki dance? Also don't diss my Oiroke no Jutsu. It works well on you and it helped me a lot in getting Jiraiya to train me back in the day."

Hiruzen cringed at the bitter truth that it worked on him, "But still, he used his Oiroke no Jutsu, combined it with the Kage-Bunshin to create Harem no Jutsu to defeat Ebisu. What is worse is that now Konohamaru has begun following him. Yesterday, Konohamaru used his Oiroke no Jutsu against me." 

Itane simply laughed, "Ofcourse he did. After I taught him that, we had so many contests over the years with our Oiroke no Jutsu. He never managed to beat me even once. In fact my day as Hokage began with an Oiroke no Jutsu contest with Konohamaru. Also if you think that Naruto's current version is something, I think I should show you mine. Right now, Naruto is an amateur at Oiroke no Jutsu compared to me."

Hiruzen looked at Itane in disbelief, "Oh no, please don't! I don't think I can lose more blood over this. I can see how it helped you with Jiraiya. But it is totally inappropriate of a Hokage to be using such Jutsu."

Itane smirked, "Oh! And it isn't inappropriate of a Hokage to hide porn in his desk?"

Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock, "Wh…Wha…at? How did you know?"

"Oh please, I've known since I was six, when I was brought to your office for a prank, that you hid Jiraiya's Icha-Icha books in the second draw on the right side of your table. I saw you slowly take one out as soon as I left with the Anbu who brought me in here. And I know that since you have your clones do all the paper work for you, you spend more time reading those books these days." Itane calmly replied.

Seeing that the conversation wasn't going the way in his way, the Sandaime Hokage decided to change the topic, "Does Naruto know that Kakashi is going to be his Jounin sensei and that Sakura and Sasuke are going to be his teammates?"

"I hinted last night that they usually place the dead-last of the year in the same team as the Rookie of the year and the Kunoichi of the year. For the rest of the night, he was sulking. He'll probably ask me about Kakashi today. I'll just give him a little information. It won't help him with the Bell test, but it will help him with torture Kakashi." Itane said.

"He was sulking? I thought he had a crush on the Kunoichi of the year and followed her around asking for dates? It should've made him happy to know that he was in her team and would get to spend more time with her, right?" Hiruzen asked Itane.

"It would have. Except that he no longer has a crush on her." Itane replied calmly

"Why? What happened?"

_Flashback__ (italics)_

_It was about five in the evening. At the Forest of Death, Itane was sparring with Naruto, who was using Kage-Bunshins in the spar, when all of a sudden, all of Naruto's Kage-Bunshins dispelled at once. Itane fearing the worst, looked at the original Naruto, who was sitting on the ground, with his legs folded at the knees in the most acute angle possible and with his head on his knees. _

_Itane asked him worriedly, "What happened Naruto? Why did all your Kage-Bunshins dispel at once? Why are sitting there like that? Are you suffering from any headache because of the dispelling of the Kage-Bunshins?"_

_Naruto slowly raised his head from his knees and looked towards Itane. There were tears in his eyes as he said, "My Kage-Bunshin shouted at Sakura-chan. She got mad at my Kage-Bunshin for sitting next to her and so she tried to punch me. So as to not get dispelled, my Kage-Bunshin tried dodging her punch and managed to just succeed. After that he got angry and shouted at Sakura-chan."_

_While Naruto was in tears, Itane felt relieved at the problem. It wasn't a serious problem but he knew it had to be solved. Itane had decided that he wouldn't mess with Naruto's love life in any way, but this little problem, he knew, would only create more pain for Naruto eventually and had to be solved immediately. Itane simply asked, "So What? She shouldn't have tried to hit you in the first place."_

"_So she'll hate me. She'll never look at me again. She'll reject me if the next time I ask her out." Naruto yelled with as the tears kept rolling down his cheeks._

_Itane smiled as he said, "As far as I know, she already hates you. She keeps trying to hit you whenever she sees you and she has always rejected you even before you could ask her out. Trust me when I see, she isn't worth it."_

_Back in his time, Sakura had become like a sister to him, but getting over his crush was one of the hardest things he ever had to do, especially since it had only grown over the years. _

_Naruto wiped his tears as he said, "I was hoping to show her my new skills and beat Sasuke with them and have her fall for me instead of Sasuke."_

_Itane stopped him then and there, "I thought you were learning all these things to be Hokage, not beat the Uchiha. Besides what you're saying won't happen. Trust me. She worships the Uchiha kid and will continue to do so. She is what we call fan-girl. She is an insult to all those serious Kunoichi out there. Even if you become Hokage, she'll continue to follow the Uchiha kid. She wants be a ninja only to be able to spend more time following the Uchiha kid. She'll continue to berate you and hit you. It is better if she doesn't look at you at all instead. Don't worry someday, I'm sure you'll find a girl who is serious about what she does and will love you with all her heart. If you still doubt what I said, just henge into the Uchiha and ask her why she wants to be a ninja and why she hates you?"_

"After that Naruto did what I said. He henged into Sasuke and approached Sakura and she told him that she wanted to be a ninja to marry her 'Sasuke-kun' and she hated him because he did all those pranks and had no parents. Since then, he has had nothing but contempt for her. So he hates both Sasuke and Sakura." Itane said.

"But wouldn't that be bad for the team? If Naruto hates both Sasuke and Sakura, it'll hurt their teamwork. Then they would fail the Bell test. Are you trying to get Kakashi to fail the team?" Hiruzen asked Itane.

Itane just smiled, "On the contrary, I think that team 7 passing is necessary for things to go the way they are supposed to."

"Then why did you make Naruto hate Sakura?"

"Because it is so much easier for him to move on at this stage of his life than later on. I've taught Naruto to look 'underneath the underneath'. It was one of the first few things that I taught him. Back in my time, it was only after a lot of experience, I learnt how to look 'underneath the underneath'. But that was one of the first few things that I taught Naruto after I began teaching him. I trust him to be able to look past his grudges. He is me afterall. Besides, I've taught him a little about teamwork and its necessity. But that was regarding teamwork between his clones. However I did say that teamwork is very important for ninjas. Anyways, if they fail the Bell test on the first attempt because of anyone, it would be because of Sakura's or Sasuke's unwillingness to work with Naruto. Back in my time, they wouldn't have worked with me either. In both the timelines, Sasuke thinks that he is better than the rest and don't need them while Sakura believes that Sasuke will save her every single time. Back then, I thought I could do everything by myself. I've taught Naruto to be better than what I used to be and as a sensei, I've faith that my student will pass the test." Itane said to the Sandaime Hokage.

Hiruzen looked at Itane and he couldn't help but respect the man and his faith in his student. The words he said and the conviction with which he said them reminded Hiruzen of his predecessors and his successor.

'Even after my death the Will of Fire lived on. They chose the right man to be the Hokage. Minato, you would be proud of what your son would turn out to be.' Hiruzen thought.

Line Break

At the academy, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto were waiting for the Jounin sensei to come. After waiting for two hours, Naruto who had gotten bored set up some pranks for his sensei.

An hour later, Hatake Kakashi started standing at the corridors and was about to enter the class. He noticed a duster on top of the door, waiting to hit the person who walks under it. He decided to simply walk into the harmless prank.

As he entered the classroom, the duster hit on the face. Naruto simply just looked on as he said, "Sensei, I kind of expected you to dodge that one."

Kakashi stood where he was wondering, 'Then why did he set the trap?' before suddenly some red paint fell on him. All of a sudden Naruto started laughing. Sakura was trying to hold her laughter and failing. Sasuke, on the other hand wasn't laughing but only because he was pinching himself really hard to stop himself from laughing. Meanwhile Itane and Hiruzen who were looking at the scene through the crystal ball were laughing their asses off.

Kakashi was a little pissed but didn't show it. While he was pissed, he also couldn't help but praise Naruto's little plan when he realized it.

"My plan was to keep the duster on the door so that you would see it. You'd then open the door but wait outside instead of walking in. Once the duster falls, you'd step inside and then the paint would fall on you. I didn't think you'd let both, the duster and the paint to fall on you. HAHAHA." Naruto laughed.

Hiruzen too couldn't help but praise the plan. 'To use a plan that involves misdirection at such a young age is a remarkable feat indeed. Itane has taught him well.'

Itane was laughing and so was Kurama in his mindscape, **"PAYBACK IS A BITCH. AND IT HAS JUST BEGUN! HAHAHAHA!"**

In the classroom, Kakashi wanted to check his hair in a mirror desperately, but that had to wait, so he simply said, "My first impression of you guys is…I hate you. Come to the rooftop in 5 minutes."

When they reached the rooftop, Kakashi noticed that Naruto wasn't wearing his orange jumpsuit. He had seen the blond prankster several times in the village. At times, he even had to track him down. But he always wore orange. Today however, he was wearing grey and black clothes.

Kakashi then said, "Now that you're all here, why don't you introduce yourselves?"

Sakura who was staring at Sasuke the entire time, turned her head towards the grey haired man who was now red haired as she asked, "Why don't you show us how it is done, Sensei?"

Kakashi inwardly thought, 'Is this supposed to be the Kunoichi of the year, someone who doesn't even know how to introduce herself?' before saying, "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention to tell you my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future, eh? Hmmm...Well I have a lot of hobbies…Now it's your turn."

Inside Itane, Kurama was yelling,** "LET ME AT HIM NOW. I'M GOING TO MAKE HIM INTRODUCE HIMSELF PROPERLY, IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO!"**

Itane meanwhile was trying to pacify Kurama in his mindscape, 'Relax Kurama. My chibi version will take care of it. He'll get back at the scarecrow for both of us. Don't worry.'

This seemed to have Kurama down who was waiting in anticipation for little Naruto's introduction.

Sakura was the one who went first. "I'm Haruno Sakura. What I like is…well…The person I like is…And my hobbies are…Well my dream for the future is….Kyaaaah." she said while looking at Sasuke the entire time. Naruto meanwhile held his ears at the screech.

"And what do you dislike?" Kakashi asked unimpressed.

"It is Naruto." She said with a scowl. Naruto simply ignored it while Kakashi thought, 'Girls of this age are more interested in love than in Ninjutsu.' before saying, "Next."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And…I don't want to use the word 'dream', but…I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain a man."

Upon hearing Sasuke's introduction, everyone was lost in their thoughts. Naruto was thinking, 'He'd better not mean me'. Sakura was thinking, 'Sasuke-kun is so cool!'

Kakashi was thinking, 'I thought so'. Meanwhile Hiruzen was thinking, 'The boy does feel like a lost cause'.

In Itane's mindscape, Kurama was saying, **"STUPID UCHIHA AND THEIR REVENGE. IDIOT WANTS TO KILL THE GUY WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO KEEP HIM SAFE."**

Itane too was thinking about Sasuke as he said, "So far since my return, I've focused on Naruto. At some point, we'll have to tell Sasuke the truth before he goes down the same dark path again. The question is when. If told at the wrong time, his hate could be redirected towards the village. Right now, he is not ready. But first, something has to be done about his brooding."

Hiruzen smiled at Itane as he said, "Even after all that he has done, you can't stop thinking of him as a friend. Can you?" 

Itane turned to Hiruzen, "The Sasuke from my timeline is a dead man who committed so many crimes. This Sasuke is someone I can stop from committing all those crimes. If I can keep him loyal to Konoha, I might have saved many lives already even though he was the one who killed Danzo, whom I hated. That's another problem we'll have to deal with eventually."

Hiruzen simply nodded as his respect for the man continued to rise.

Meanwhile it was Naruto's turn to introduce himself as Kakashi turned to him and said, "And the last one?"

Naruto recalled one of Itane's advices, 'Don't give away anything to someone who gives you nothing' before saying in a bored tone, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes…well if you don't know by now, you'll probably never know. My dislikes…well if you don't know that, try guessing. My hobbies…everyone should know by now, but if you don't try finding them out yourself. As for my dreams for the future…well if you don't know that by now, you're a deaf person."

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura turned towards Naruto with shocked expressions on their faces. None of them saw that coming. Sakura tried to punch Naruto for the ridiculous introduction, but he caught her punch without even looking at her.

Meanwhile Hiruzen and Itane were laughing uncontrollably. In Itane's mindscape, Kurama was laughing hard, **"SERVES THAT KAKASHI BRAT RIGHT. RED PAINT ON HIS HAIR AND CLOTHES AND AN INTRODUCTION THAT TOPS HIS HAHAHAHA! JUST PERFECT! GREAT WORK KIT!"**

Kakashi decided thatnow would be as good a time as any to scare the young graduates, "We'll start our missions tomorrow."

"What kind of mission is it going to be?" Naruto asked the Jounin who replied, "First we are going to do something we can do with just the four of us…Survival training!"

"Why is training our mission? We did enough training at the Academy." Sakura yelled frustrated at having to train. As a girl who preferred studying and reading over actual training since it involved her sweating a lot and her make-up being ruined, Sakura was outraged.

'Does she really think that the Academy training is real training? The academy training and the basic three Jutsus won't help me kill Itachi. I need more training and more Jutsus to deal with him.' Sasuke thought while hiding his anger.

'Did she say that we did enough training at the academy? Compared to what Itane-sensei can do, that was less than nothing. I know that she is a Sasuke fan-girl, but does she really think that now that she has graduated, she won't ever have to train again?' Naruto thought while training not to snort and laugh at her statement.

'Does she seriously think that she no longer needs training?' Kakashi thought as he said, "This isn't normal training."

Kakashi then started laughing, which frustrated Sakura who was getting impatient, "Hey, what's so funny, Sensei?"

Kakashi tried to speak while still laughing, "It's just that when you guys hear this, you're definitely gonna flip."

Kakashi's expression then changed into a serious one as he said, "Of the twenty-seven graduates, only nine will be chosen as Genin. The rest will be sent back to the Academy. So basically this training is a highly difficult test with a failure rate of over 66 percent."

He was pleased to see Sakura scared and Sasuke hiding his fear. But Naruto looked at him with a frown not showing even a little bit of fear. So far Naruto was puzzling him. 'He is not wearing orange. He doesn't seem loud. His prank was rather complicated. He gave me nothing and he doesn't seem scared. He hasn't shouted even once about being Hokage. Is this Naruto at all? He was supposed to be the opposite of all this.' He thought as he sniffed in the air to confirm that it was indeed Naruto. He had too many questions. He decided to go to the Hokage after the Bell test.

Kakashi didn't show the surprise on his face as he instructed, "Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your Shinobi equipment and assemble at five in the morning!"

Lastly he told his students, "Okay, dismissed. Oh, and skip breakfast. You'll puke!"

Sakura and Sasuke had made up their minds to not breakfast while Naruto thought, 'Itane-sensei has always told me to eat breakfast every morning no matter what. I trust Itane-sensei more than this guy who didn't tell us anything but his name. I'll have breakfast tomorrow morning and I'll also ask Itane-sensei about this Hatake Kakashi.'

Line Break

Later that night, Itane was having dinner that he cooked himself when he heard someone knock on his door. Itane who was expecting this opened the door, "Naruto, what brings you here? Come in, I was just about to have dinner. Why don't you join me?"

Naruto walked in and sat at the table. He had a thoughtful expression on his face as he said, "I learnt who are going to be my teammates today. It turned out just as you said Itane-sensei. They put me with the Rookie of the year, Sasuke-teme and the Kunoichi of the year, Haruno Sakura."

Itane started laughing at Naruto's misery, "Sorry kiddo, can't do anything about that. It was the Hokage's decision. He knows that you're stronger than your peers and that you're no dead-last, but that's precisely why he wants to create a hard-core fighting unit with the best graduates of the academy."

"I can understand Sasuke-teme then, but Sakura. She is just book-smart. She thought of the dumb academy training as serious training and even said that we don't need any more training, since we did enough training in the academy. She is as you said that day, 'a fan-girl'." Naruto complained.

Itane chucked, "Oh, so you seem happy about having the Uchiha kid in your team now? I thought he was the one person you hated the most in the academy."

"I still hate him. He has a 10m pole stuck up his ass and answers every question with nothing but 'Hn'. What sort of a reply is that?" Naruto yelled while standing from his chair.

Kurama agreed with Naruto as he said in Itane's mindscape, **"EVERY UCHIHA IS BORN WITH A 10M POLE STUCK UP HIS ASS. IT IS NOTHING NEW. AN UCHIHA WHO IS NOT A DICK IS BORN ONLY ONCE A BLUE MOON. THE ONLY EXCEPTION WAS OBITO WHO ENDED UP BEING A DICK AS WELL THANKS TO MADARA."**

'Hey Itachi wasn't a dick.' Itane argued with Kurama in his mindscape.

"**ITACHI WASN'T A DICK. BUT EVEN HE SEEMED TO HAVE A STICK UP HIS ASS WHENEVER WE SAW HIM THOUGH THAT MAY HAVE BEEN BECAUSE HE HAD TO PLAY HIS ACT FOR SPYING ON THE AKATSUKI." **Kurama said and Itane had to agree with him.

Meanwhile outside the mindscape, Naruto stopped bad mouthing his teammates as he turned to Itachi, "I hate the idea of being stuck in the same team as Sasuke-teme and Sakura, and they probably hate the idea of being stuck with me too, but that's not why I'm here."

"You're here to know more about Hatake Kakashi and the real Genin exam." Itane completed for Naruto.

Naruto nodded before saying, "You expected me?"

Itane had a proud smile on his face as he said, "Who taught you the importance of information gathering now? Ofcourse, I expected you to come here and ask me about Kakashi-san. I'm afterall one of the only Jounin you know and I'm a former spy so I should obviously have the information you need. I'll tell you certain things, but not everything. But be specific. What exactly do you want to know?"

"Tell me who Hatake Kakashi is? What is his history? Have you done missions with him? What are his abilities? What sort of a person is he? And what is the purpose of the true Genin exam? How do we pass?" Naruto asked in rapid succession

Itane began, "Hatake Kakashi is a Jounin of Konohagakure, who is the son of the late Shiroi Kiba, Hatake Sakumo. He is also the only living student of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. He is an A-ranked ninja who was a former Anbu captain and is known all over the world by the moniker, 'Copy-ninja Kakashi' since he has copied over a 1000 Jutsus. He was a child prodigy who became a Jounin by the time he was thirteen. Yes, I have done several missions with him over the last one year. His abilities, I won't tell you. It would be wrong on my part to leak confidential information about a fellow Jounin."

Naruto nodded his head while thinking, 'He is an A-ranked shinobi who copied over a 1000 Jutsus! How the hell did I get the paint to drop on him? He should've atleast avoided the duster. Itane-sensei makes him sound like an amazing ninja! Was he trying to get me to underestimate him? Why?'

Itane continued seeing Naruto nod his head, "As a person, he pretends to be very laidback. He often reads porn in public. He is someone who always looks 'underneath the underneath'. He is always atleast three hours late for anything less than an A-rank mission and always comes with a ridiculous excuse to explain his lateness. So never expect him to be on time."

Naruto smiled at the information thinking, 'So that's what he was doing. He was looking 'underneath the underneath'. He intentionally got pranked. He could've easily avoided the duster and maybe the paint, but didn't. He is also never on time. He called us tomorrow morning at five and told us to not eat breakfast. He'll probably come hours later and have us perform the training exercise while we're hungry. Glad, I came to Itane-sensei. Now, I'm definitely going to have breakfast tomorrow. I'll also prepare a bit. I'll send a Kage-Bunshin to tell Sakura and Sasuke before having a decent breakfast.'

Itane seeing Naruto's smile thought happily, 'I've trained him well. He has already begun looking at the 'underneath the underneath' of Kakashi's tricks. Tomorrow will be entertaining.' Kurama silently agreed with Itane as Itane continued from where he had left off, "I can't tell you the purpose of the true Genin exam or how to pass it. That's for you to figure out. Remember that most graduates do not pass the exam. As Kakashi said, only 9 out of the 27 graduates pass the exam. There is a good reason for that. Besides, I've given you all the help you need to pass. The rest is up to you and your teammates."

Naruto nodded at Itane's answer as he finished his dinner. Naruto thanked Itane for the information before wishing him, "Goodnight Itane-sensei, I'll see you tomorrow. Also can you give me some breakfast early tomorrow, say around 7." When Itane agreed, Naruto said, "Thanks sensei. I'll see you tomorrow then." as he walked out of the door.

After Naruto left, Kurama asked Itane, **"HOW WELL DO YOU THINK YOUR CHIBI WILL FARE NOW THAT HE HAS ALL THE INFORMATION HE NEEDS?"**

Itane had a smile on his face as he said, 'I think he'll do well. He atleast won't be hungry during the exam. Hope he figures out the true meaning of the test. He has become really good at seeing 'underneath the underneath'. Either way, it's going to be fun and we'll get to see it through the Hokage's crystal ball. His clones can deal with all the visitors who'll come and go. Even he wouldn't want to miss this.'

Kurama agreed, **" I CAN'T WAIT."**

Line Break

It was five o'clock in the morning, the sun hadn't risen yet. There was not a soul on the streets. It was quiet, it was dark, as a weary Haruno Sakura, a Kage-Bunshin of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke dragged themselves to Training ground 7.

When they reached the training ground, Naruto's Kage-Bunshin spoke to them, "Hey Sasuke-teme, Sakura, listen up."

Sakura despite her weariness yelled out, "Hey don't call Sasuke-kun that!"

Naruto ignored her and continued, "I did some snooping yesterday regarding our sensei. The man is apparently always atleast three hours late for everything less than an A-rank mission. I think he just wants us to be hungry during our survival test. That's probably why he told us not to eat anything."

Sasuke frowned at the bit of information, "Just because he was late yesterday doesn't mean he'll be late all the time. Besides something like that would be very improper of a Jounin."

Sakura as usual agreed with Sasuke, "Yeah, you just want us to go back home and disobey our new sensei so that he likes you. Well you can forget it."

Naruto wanted to bang his head on a tree when he heard Sakura's words. Naruto's Kage-Bunshin then said, "Fine. I tried. I'm going to go back home and sleep. I'll also have a nice breakfast before I come." before dispelling.

As Naruto's Kage-Bunshin dispelled, Sakura and Sasuke stared at the place where Naruto had been standing. 'Was that a solid Bunshin. I thought he couldn't even create one. Also while it is true that the man was late yesterday and also fell for the dobe's silly prank, he can't be as bad as the dobe said he was. He is a Jounin for a reason and the council won't put me in some idiot's team even though they did stick me with a fan-girl and the dobe.' Sasuke thought

'Naruto couldn't even create a Bunshin in the academy. Did he just create a solid Bunshin. Still even if he did, he is nothing compared to Sasuke-kun. Now that the dobe is gone, I can make a move on my Sasuke-kun!CHA!' Sakura thought happily.

Line Break

An hour and a half later, Naruto woke up in his apartment, took a shower and went to his neighbor's apartment to have breakfast. After having his breakfast, he decided to go and check on his teammates, Sasuke and Sakura who were still at Training ground 7. He wanted to ignore them and let them starve for insulting him, but deciding against it, he took some energy bars that Itane had bought for him and went to the training ground.

When Naruto left, Itane began getting ready. He wanted to see how the exam would go through the Hokage's crystal ball. When Itane reached the building, he was surprised to see Iruka standing outside.

"Iruka-san, what are you doing here this early in the morning?" Itane asked Iruka who turned around to see the red-haired Jounin.

Iruka nervously began asking, "Are you here because you're scared for Naruto yourself, Itane-san? Kakashi-san is his sensei afterall. I heard that Kakashi-san never passed a single team."

Having understood why Iruka was going to see the Hokage, Itane smiled, 'I always knew that Iruka thought of me as his younger brother, but I didn't know that he actually feared that Kakashi would have failed our team. It strangely makes me happy to see him so nervous.'

Kurama having heard his thoughts chose the moment to take a cheap shot on Itane, **"HE DOES HAVE A GOOD REASON TO BE NERVOUS. YOU AND YOUR TEAMMATES CAME SO AWEFULLY CLOSE TO FAILING."**

'But my chibi version is quite good. I made sure that I trained him to see 'underneath the underneath'.' Itane argued with Kurama in his mindscape.

"**SURE YOU DID. BUT IRUKA DOESN'T KNOW THAT. HE THINKS NARUTO IS THE SAME BOY YOU USED TO BE WHEN YOU WERE AT HIS AGE." **Kurama finished his argument.

Seeing no comeback, Itane decided to ignore Kurama and calm Iruka, "Don't worry Iruka-san. I've worked with Kakashi-san on several missions and I know that he is a fair man. I've trained Naruto well. He knows a lot more than just Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu. In fact Kage-Bunshin was actually the first thing I taught him on his first day of training. He also has the Rookie of the year and the Kunoichi of the year in his team. Together they should be able ace Kakashi-san's test. Just trust him like I do."

Itane's words seemed to calm Iruka down as his nervous face slowly changed into a smile. Iruka thanked Itane and left as Itane walked into the building.

Line Break

At the training ground, Naruto arrived to see Sasuke and Sakura in the exact same positions his Kage-Bunshin had left them at.

"Didn't I tell you that he'd be late? I brought some energy bars if you want." Naruto said with a smile as he offered two energy bars to both of them.

Both of them wanted to lash out at Naruto, but just then their stomachs started grumbling. Both of them grabbed the energy bars from Naruto's hands and quickly ate them.

After they ate the energy bars, Sakura turned to Naruto and said in a low voice, "Thanks!"

Sasuke turned away from Naruto and grunted "Hn!" Naruto simply assumed that grunt meant 'Thank you and don't expect anything more than that from me.'

Naruto looked at Sakura a little surprised at being thanked, "You're Welcome!"

What Naruto didn't know was that earlier when Sasuke and Sakura were alone she told him how she felt about Naruto being in the team and her reasons for hating him. Sasuke knowing the loneliness that Naruto went through called her annoying.

Since there was no sign of Kakashi, Naruto decided to give his teammates some of the information he had on Kakashi, "Hey guys, listen up. Our sensei, Hatake Kakashi is a former Anbu captain and A-rank ninja who is famously known all over the world as 'Copy-ninja Kakashi' because he has copied over a 1000 Jutsus."

Both, Sakura and Sasuke turned towards Naruto wide-eyed and in shock. Both of them had waited for nearly four hours for their sensei to arrive and were starting to doubt the credibility and quality of their sensei. Naruto's bit of information threw them into shock. They didn't want to believe it but they had already ignored Naruto's earlier information and paid the price for it by waiting for four hours. It would be foolish to doubt him a second time.

'No way! He is a former Anbu captain. But he fell for Naruto's prank. Naruto must be lying. But Naruto did say that he would be atleast three hours late and its pushing four now. Can it all be true? I hope Sasuke-kun and I don't get separated.' Sakura thought.

'An A-rank ninja and former Anbu captain, he had the same rank as Itachi. Is he as strong as him? He also has over 1000 Jutsus. 'Copy ninja Kakashi', how did he copy 1000 Jutsus? Can he make me strong enough to kill him?' Sasuke thought.

Seeing how his teammates didn't berate him this time, Naruto smiled thinking, 'Maybe we can be a good team. Itane-sensei did tell me that teamwork is very important for ninjas. Hopefully we'll be able to achieve good teamwork.' Naruto thought.

The trio continued waiting in silence till at 11:10, six hours and ten minutes past the scheduled time, they heard Kakashi say in a dull voice, "Good morning, everyone!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura and Naruto yelled, while Sasuke scowled hard at the man. Kakashi put both his hands up to apologize, "Maa maa, you see I had to remove Naruto's red paint and then a black cat crossed my path…" seeing the anger on the young graduates' faces, Kakashi stopped.

Naruto was thinking, 'I know Itane-sensei did say ridiculous excuse, but a black cat crossed his path…seriously…I can understand my paint though. He really seems to want us to underestimate him.'

Kakashi then walked to a rock on the training ground, placed an alarm clock on the rock and tapped a button on the alarm clock before announcing, "Okay, it's set to noon."

'If he had an alarm clock the entire time, why the hell couldn't he set an alarm for himself' Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura thought in unison.

Suddenly their thoughts were broken by a clink. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura looked up to see Kakashi holding two bells as he announced, "Your task for today is to take these bells from me before noon. Those who do not get the bell by noon get no lunch! I'll not only tie you to one of those posts, but I'll eat right in front of you."

Kakashi expected to hear some grumbling stomachs but was surprised to hear none.

'Did someone see through my bluff? That has never happened before. All of them ate. It's unlikely that all three of them saw through it. Hmm…Interesting!' Kakashi thought.

'So that's why he told us not to eat anything. Good thing that Naruto got us those energy bars.' Sakura and Sasuke thought in unison.

'I knew it!' Naruto thought triumphantly.

Line Break

Meanwhile Itane and Hiruzen were watching the entire show through the crystal ball.

"The Bell test has been used by me, Jiraiya, Minato and Kakashi but Kakashi is the only one, who tells his students to come early and suggests them to not eat breakfast and this is the first time any team has come without a growling stomach and I suppose Naruto is the reason for that." Hiruzen said to Itane.

Itane smiled, "Yup. Dealing with Kakashi's test is all about catching his bluffs. I focused a lot of my training time, dealing with Naruto's mental training. I had to convince him that no matter how strong a shinobi, if he is stupid, he is a horrible ninja. Making Naruto strong wasn't too hard. Knowing myself, it was actually pretty easy. The hard part was making him smart."

Hiruzen nodded along understanding where Itane came from. The Naruto he knew a year back had absolutely no intelligence compared to the current Naruto, whose pranks were of better quality, who went to seek information and who managed to see through Kakashi's advice.

Line Break

Sakura seeing just two bells on Kakashi's hip asked, "Sensei, how come there are only two bells?"

Kakashi eye-smiled as he said, "Because there are only two bells, one of you will definitely be tied to a post and that person will fail the test. So atleast one of you'll be sent back to the academy. It might be just one, but it could be all three. You can even use your shurikens. You won't be able to get it unless you come at me with killer intent."

Sakura screamed fearing for Kakashi, "But you'll be under danger, Sensei!"

Naruto, Kakashi, Itane and Hiruzen sweat-dropped at Sakura's words. Kakashi was a Jounin afterall and one of the best in the village at that and no matter how strong a Genin, he or she can never be a threat to a Jounin.

"I'll manage. When I say start, we'll begin." Kakashi said. After waiting for some time to see their reactions, he announced, "Okay, let's get going. Ready…START!"

As soon as he announced start, all the three graduates jumped away. Soon Kakashi was standing all alone in the middle of the training ground. After giving them a few seconds he thought, 'The basics of being a shinobi are erasing your presence and hiding yourself well'. Kakashi then began sensing his surroundings to find the graduates. Being an experienced sensor, it wasn't too hard for him. He sensed Sasuke on top of a tree while Sakura was on the ground behind some bushes. 'Good they're all concealed well', he thought before looking for Naruto. He then turned around to see Naruto sitting on a rock just behind him. It looked like Naruto was thinking. Kakashi asked in a dull voice, "Aren't you a little bit off?"

Naruto stood up from where he was sitting and said, "The only one who is off here is you. You first tell us to not eat anything and come at five. You then come here over six hours late and tell us to take two bells from you in less than an hour while also telling us that one of us will go back to the academy no matter what. What are you playing at?"

Naruto then charged towards Kakashi at speeds way above Genin level and tried to kick him. Kakashi was surprised at the speed Naruto displayed, but managed to bend his back to avoid the kick on time. Naruto then tried to punch Kakashi but he blocked it using his superior skills and then when Naruto went for a kick again, Kakashi used both his legs to deflect Naruto's kick and jump backwards at the same time, thereby creating a little distance between them before announcing, "Let me teach you Ninja fighting lesson number one: Taijutsu!"

Naruto while focusing on the fight was thinking backwards through everything he had learnt to figure out the meaning of the test. He thought back.

_Flashback __(multiple flashbacks)_

_Flashback #1: Naruto was training at the Forest of Death with Itane who advised Naruto, "__Teamwork__ is very important for a ninja. Never forget that some of the best ninjas in the world can be taken down if average ninjas __work together__. That's what your clones need to do. If they work well with you, you'll be able to destroy opponents who're much stronger than you."_

_Flashback #2: Naruto was sitting with Iruka at Ichirakus wearing Iruka's Konoha hitai-ate after Mizuki had been apprehended. Iruka spoke while Naruto was slurping through his ramen, "Now you'll be placed in a __team__ along with two other graduates and a Jounin sensei. You'll be doing several missions with your __team__ till you become a Chunin."_

_Flashback #3: Naruto was sitting with his teammates at the roof of the academy with Kakashi in front of them saying with a serious expression,_ _"Of the twenty-seven graduates, only __nine__ will be chosen as Genin."_

_Flashback #4: Naruto was sitting at the dining table in Itane's house. He had just asked about Kakashi. Itane was eating some food himself as he said, "He is someone who always looks '__underneath the underneath'__."_

_Flashback #5: Naruto was again at the dining table in Itane's house, listening carefully as Itane said, "I can't tell you the purpose of the true Genin exam or how to pass it. That's for you to figure out. Remember that most graduates do not pass the exam. As Kakashi said, only __9 out of the 27__ graduates pass the exam. There is a good reason for that. Besides, I've given you all the help you need to pass. The rest is up to you and your __teammates__."_

'Nine graduates means three full teams. No team can have just two graduates. That was the clue. He is trying to split us up with just two bells. The real test is 'Teamwork'.' Naruto's eyes widened as he realized it. Just then he noticed that Kakashi had disappeared from his view. He was thinking so hard that he wasn't focusing on the fight. He suddenly heard a voice behind him, "A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind, baka!"

Sasuke seeing the tiger hand seal that Kakashi had formed while sitting on his knees thought, 'A tiger hand seal. Is he going to use Katon Jutsu on Naruto? That bastard isn't just fooling around.'

Sakura yelled from her hiding position, "Naruto, get out of there! You're going to get killed!"

Kakashi from where he was shouted, "Too late! Konohagakure Hidden Taijutsu Ougi: Sennin Goroshi!" as he poked Naruto's ass with the hand seal. Naruto's face turned into a smug smile which confused Kakashi. Naruto suddenly exploded and Kakashi was covered in orange paint.

'What just happened?' Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and even Hiruzen who saw it through the crystal ball wondered at the same time.

Hiruzen looked to his side and saw Itane laughing his ass off. Seeing Hiruzen's shocked expression, Itane explained, "The Naruto that took on Kakashi was a Kage-Bunshin the entire time. Naruto created a Kage-Bunshin and had it sit just behind Kakashi so that he could buy himself some time to think through things, while having the Kage-Bunshin prod Kakashi for answers. Seeing the Kage-Bunshin behind him Kakashi didn't bother sensing any further for Naruto whose location is still unknown to him."

Hiruzen smiled at the tactic but he still had questions, "But what about the orange paint?"

Itane chucked, "Naruto put a paint ball in the Kage-Bunshin's pocket before sending him to the rock. The paint ball is a special paint ball that was created for a prank. It is a paint ball that has a weak explosive note stuffed inside it. It explodes upon a hand sign and hence can be activated from a distance. When Naruto saw his Kage-Bunshin get his ass poked, he activated the paint ball which exploded on Kakashi the moment, the Kage-Bunshin dispelled."

When they heard the explanation, both Hiruzen and Kurama started laughing all over the floor. Kurama had tears in his eyes as he said, "**WHOEVER SAID THAT REVENGE IS SWEET KNEW WHAT HE SAID! HAHAHAHA!"**

Seeing Kakashi covered in orange paint, Sakura started laughing while Sasuke was biting his tongue to not laugh and give away his location. Both were thinking, 'Is this what a Jounin is? Not cool at all. But what did Naruto do? How did he explode and turn into orange paint? Was that a solid Bunshin like the one we saw in the morning?'

'Great! Sensei's son has pranked me twice already. This is ruining my reputation. But that said, how did he do it? It was a Kage-Bunshin that I fought the entire time, but how did he get the paint on me. Naruto seems nothing like what I heard. His speed was easily high-Chunin. His Taijutsu was quite decent too. It's nothing like it was mentioned in the reports. He also seems to have seen through my bluffs. There is no doubt that he is the reason why no one's stomach was grumbling. Will he figure out the true meaning of the test? Part of me wants him to but part of me doesn't want him to figure it out especially if he keeps pranking me like this forever. I want to know what happened. I'll ask Naruto about it later when we're alone. I just hope Gai doesn't see me like this.' Kakashi thought sighing at the last part.

Meanwhile the original Naruto who had hidden himself in the shadows and gotten rid of his smell, before triggering the explosion of the paint ball as soon as he saw his clone being ass-poked got all the memories and thoughts of the clone. He wanted to laugh at his Sensei's predicament, but that would reveal his location which he had gone to great lengths to cover up. Having learnt the true meaning of the test, he had to find his teammates and tell them what they were supposed to do. He could only hope to find them before they make their move or before Kakashi decides to hunt them down.

Seeing Kakashi look around for Naruto, Sasuke decided to act. He threw several kunai and shuriken at Kakashi whose back was turned towards him. All of the weapons hit Kakashi. But just as Kakashi fell, he dissipated into a cloud of smoke out of which, a log appeared with all the weapons revealing a Kawarimi no Jutsu.

Sasuke realizing that he had revealed his location ran away from his location. Little did he know that he was also running away from Naruto who was looking for him. Sakura also ran away from her location in the same direction as Sasuke thereby creating more distance between her and Naruto as well. Sakura suddenly found herself not too far away from Kakashi and thought, 'Safe! He didn't notice me.'

Suddenly she heard a voice, "Sakura, behind you!"

She turned around to see Kakashi and in her surprise screamed out loud. Little did she know that Kakashi had put her in a Genjutsu.

Sakura suddenly found herself in the middle of the training ground all alone. She started looking around while wondering, "Huh? What was that? Hey! What's going on? Where's Sensei? Huh? Huh? What's going on? Huh? What's that?"

Suddenly she heard a voice she recognized behind her, "Sakura." She turned around to see her beloved 'Sasuke-kun' with several kunai piercing his body bleeding to death. Sakura screamed out loudly before collapsing never realizing that she was in a Genjutsu all along.

Kakashi who was sitting on a tree took out his Icha Icha Paradise and started reading it while thinking, 'Did I go too far? Seemed like she could've figured it out.'

Both Naruto and Sasuke recognized the scream as Sakura's as Kakashi muttered, "Ninja fighting lesson number two: Genjutsu. Sakura easily fell for it."

Naruto realized that he had to find her as soon as possible. He started running in the direction of the scream. Sasuke meanwhile showed himself to Kakashi saying, "I'm not the same as them."

Kakashi continued reading his book as he said, "Say that kind of stuff after you get the bell, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke threw some weapons at Kakashi who dodged them. He then activated a trap he had set when Kakashi went for Sakura, which launched some more weapons at Kakashi who dodged them. Sasuke then appeared behind Kakashi and attacked him with a heel kick to the face, which was blocked and caught by Kakashi's left hand. From his awkward position, Sasuke threw a punch to the face which was caught by Kakashi's right hand. From the same awkward position, Sasuke twisted his body to be held upside down and tried kicking Kakashi on the head, but Kakashi swiftly moved his hand that had caught Sasuke's punch and blocked the kick. Seeing the opening, Sasuke went for the bells with his free hand. Kakashi realizing this released Sasuke's body and created some distance between him and the last loyal Uchiha.

Sakura woke up and remembered what she had seen and yelled, "Sasuke-kun, don't die and leave me alone! Where are you?"

Naruto found Sakura at that moment and told her, "There you are, Sakura. Come, we need to find Sasuke. I found out the true meaning of the test."

Sakura just scoffed and said, "Yeah right, you just want Sasuke-kun to fail."

Naruto tired of Sakura's antics yelled, "You stupid fan-girl, we don't have time for this. We need to find Sasuke NOW!"

Seeing Naruto yell Sakura meekly followed also since she too wanted to find Sasuke.

Sasuke meanwhile seeing that his initial plan had failed started doing hand seals at a fast pace before finishing with a horse seal and a tiger seal and yelled, "Katon: Gokakyou no Jutsu!" as a large fireball.

Kakashi was shocked to see a Genin try to perform the Jutsu. As the fireball disappeared, Kakashi was nowhere to be seen. Sasuke started looking all around him before he suddenly heard, "Below you!"

A hand appeared from the ground and grabbed Sasuke's leg before yelling, "Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!" and dragged Sasuke's body neck deep into the ground.

Seeing Sasuke's entire body buried under the ground except for his head, Kakashi said, "Ninja fighting lesson number three: Ninjutsu!" Kakashi then opened his book and started walking away while reading it.

Naruto and Sakura meanwhile had heard Sasuke's scream and approached the location. When they approached the area, they found Sasuke's head being the only thing above the ground. Sakura seeing Sasuke screamed, "Now his severed head!" and collapsed.

Naruto pulled Sasuke out of the ground and woke up Sakura and told them, "The true purpose of the test is teamwork. We're supposed to work together to get the bells from Sensei."

"Yeah right! You're just saying that because you know that you can't get them on your own." Sakura said with a scoff.

"Last time I touched the bells. This time I'm taking them. You both will only be in my way." Sasuke said deciding against teamwork.

Naruto, tired of their antics yelled at both of them, "YOU STUPID MORONS, Kakashi said that only nine graduates will pass. How can you have nine graduates when a team has only two graduates? It means that three teams are going to pass."

Suddenly Sasuke and Sakura saw logic in everything Naruto said. Sakura asked, "Then why would sensei have only two bells?"

"That is the test. Tell me Sakura, if Sensei had three bells with him, wouldn't we have made plans together and attacked him together as a team?" Naruto asked the pink head.

Sakura nodded agreeing with Naruto. Sasuke answered for Naruto, "Sensei used two bells so that we don't think of using teamwork and attacking him together. He wanted us to see through this and go for the bells as a team. So now what?"

Line Break

Kakashi stood near the memorial stone reading his book while thinking, 'Five more minutes till noon. No sign of Naruto. Another team failed, huh? They were quite interesting too. Sasuke was good for a graduate and Naruto was far too good for a deadlast, that it doesn't even make sense.'

Suddenly Kakashi saw Naruto in front of him standing with two shadow clones. All three of them charged towards Kakashi who closed his book prepared to take them on.

Kakashi struggled to hold Naruto who had no openings what so ever and attacked at an incredibly high speed. The two Kage-Bunshin only served to make it even harder. Whenever Kakashi saw any openings in Naruto's defense and went for it, a clone would block his attack. Then he suddenly heard Sasuke from behind him yelling, "Katon: Gokakyou no Jutsu!"

Kakashi's first thought upon hearing the Jutsu was to perform a Kawarami or simply dive away, but then the Jutsu would hit Naruto. There was no water source around for him to use any Suiton Jutsu either. Kakashi kicked Naruto and created some distance between him and Naruto and his clones before turning around and yelling, "Doton: Doryuheki!" creating an Earth wall behind him to stop the fireball. Suddenly he heard Naruto's voice from Sasuke's direction, "Fuuton: Atsugai!"

That was when it hit Kakashi, 'Naruto and Sasuke are working together. Then the three Narutos behind me are all Kage-Bunshins. This is bad for me' Kakashi thought. Knowing what was coming, Kakashi tried to jump backwards but he found three kunais with explosion tags behind him. Kakashi turned around to see Sakura standing with the three Narutos.

'So they are working together, I see. Naruto probably found out the true meaning of the test and told Sakura and Sasuke.' Kakashi smiled.

Naruto's and Sasuke's Jutsus combined to create a firestorm that destroyed Kakashi's Earth wall and create a huge blast which combined with the blast from Sakura's explosion tags to increase the total area of the blast. When the dust from the blast subsided, there was no sign of Kakashi.

Suddenly the alarm rang and all three graduates thought, 'Damn time is up and no bells. Is he really going to send us back to the academy?'

Just then Kakashi without any orange paint all over his hair and clothes stepped out from the trees, "That was an impressive tactic and a powerful combination Jutsu there. It completely took out my Kage-Bunshin."

'So that's how he escaped. He has been using a Kage-Bunshin the entire time right from the beginning.' Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura thought at the same time.

_Flashback_

"_So now what?" Sasuke asked Naruto._

"_Now we make a plan as quickly as possible. I'll create some Kage-Bunshins and have them attack Sensei using just Taijutsu." Naruto began._

"_What's Kage-Bunshin?" Sakura asked Naruto having never heard of them._

"_They're solid Bunshins. You already saw me use them earlier." Naruto answered before asking Sasuke, "Sasuke, I thought I heard you yell Katon: Gokakyou no Jutsu. Can you use it again against Sensei?"_

_Seeing Sasuke nod, Naruto continued, "I'll push him away from the lake as much as possible. When he is at a fair distance from the lake, use the Jutsu. He won't be able to stop it using a Suiton Jutsu if he is away from the lake."_

_Sasuke then asked, "But what if he uses a Kawarami or the Doton Jutsu that he used earlier to trap me?"_

_Naruto smiled, "If you attack him from the opposite side I'm attacking from and as long as he thinks that the real me is mixed along with the clones, he won't avoid them. He'll have to prepare a Jutsu to block your attack from hitting both him and my clones, amongst who he thinks the real me is present."  
_

"_Say he does exactly as you say and use some Ninjutsu technique to deal with my Gokakyou no Jutsu, then what will you do?" Sasuke asked_

"_If he uses a Ninjutsu technique, we'll have to ensure that your technique overpowers his. I will come from behind you and make your Katon Jutsu stronger using a Fuuton: Atsugai. Then the only way for him to escape will be in the direction of my clones. If Sakura can use some kunais with explosive tags, we'll be able to trap him in the blast." Naruto said._

_Both Naruto and Sasuke liked the plan. Sakura however asked, "How do you know a Fuuton Jutsu?"  
Naruto simply sighed, "Does it matter? We're running short of time and I don't have the time to answer that question. For now, just accept the fact that I know the Jutsu just like I know the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu."_

_Sakura nodded and asked again, "But what about the bells? How do we take them? As far as I know, we'll be creating a huge blast. If he gets caught in the blast, he might even die." _

_Naruto looked at Sakura and said, "Sakura, he is a Jounin. He has a lot more experience than all of us. I already told you how great he really is. He has just been toying with us here. Besides, he already told us to come at him with killing intent. Stop underestimating him."_

Kakashi looked at the three graduates and said, "Time is up and you don't have the bells. However you did display some excellent teamwork there. I believe Naruto is the one who figured out that the true meaning of the test is teamwork. I believe he is also the reason all of you had some breakfast and none of you were hungry today."

Seeing the graduates nod, Kakashi asked them, "If you had gotten the bells, what would you have done with them?"

Sakura looked towards Sasuke, 'I probably would've given the other bell to Sasuke-kun because I want to be in the same team as him. But I did nothing but faint. It was Naruto's plan all the way through. He thought through everything. He even seemed quite strong. He was the one who got us the information, he was the one who got us the energy bars and during the test, he was fast, he used Kage-Bunshins, his Taijutsu was also pretty good and he also used a Fuuton Jutsu. If anyone doesn't deserve to be in the team, it is me.'

Sasuke looked towards Naruto, 'I don't know what happened to him. But he is not the same old loser. He is also quite strong. Maybe he could even help me get my revenge.'

While his teammates were engrossed in their thoughts, Naruto answered without a moment of hesitation, "I would have given them to Sasuke and Sakura. This was my plan. I thought that teamwork was enough to pass this test. If it wasn't, it would be my fault because I was the one who convinced them into it and hence, it is only right that I take the blame.'

At that moment, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and even Hiruzen and Itane felt a lot of respect for the young Naruto. Kakashi eye-smiled as he announced, "Then, all of you pass!"

Seeing the shocked expression on Sakura's face and the smiling expressions on Naruto's and Sasuke's face, Kakashi said, "Come with me." 

They walked towards the memorial stone, where Kakashi said, "You guys are the first. The others up until now were idiots who simply fought amongst themselves and never figured out the true meaning of the test. A ninja must read underneath the underneath."

Sakura and Naruto yelled, "Yatta!" while Sasuke smiled. The graduates followed Kakashi to the Memorial stone. Kakashi looked at the stone and said, "Look at this stone. All the names carved into the stone, these are all ninjas of the village that are called heroes. Heroes, who died while serving the village. This is a memorial. My best friend's name is also carved here. He taught me something a while back that I want all of you to remember with all your heart: 'In the ninja world, those who do not follow rules are trash…But, you know…those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!'"

Kakashi looked to see Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura stare at him with widened eyes as they took the saying to heart. Seeing their expressions, Kakashi announced, "The test is over. All of you pass! Team 7 starts its missions tomorrow. Sasuke and Sakura, you're dismissed! Naruto, you wait!"

At Hiruzen's office, both Itane and Hiruzen realized that Kakashi was going to question Naruto. Hiruzen immediately called in some Anbu and told them to call over every single Jounin who was nominated to be a Sensei. Itane meanwhile used a Hiraishin to teleport to a location close to training ground 7, where he had placed a seal. Itane then went at Jounin speed to training ground 7 to intercept Kakashi.

Kakashi asked Naruto, "I heard about the Mizuki incident and also learnt that you used the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu that you learnt from the Scroll of Seals to defeat him. But what about the Fuuton Jutsu and the paint explosion? Where did you learn those? Your progress report states one thing, but your performance states another. Were you hiding your skills at the Academy? If so why? Who taught you these techniques? What happened to your orange jumpsuit? Why is it that you no longer wear it? You have a lot to explain, Naruto."

Fortunately for Naruto, Itane appeared just in time to save him. As Itane approached, Kakashi turned around, "What are you doing here, Itane-san?"

"Kakashi-san, Hokage-sama has called you over. You need to come with me. Naruto's changes will be explained there." Itane said before turning to Naruto, "Congratulations on passing! I'll see you later."

"How did you know I passed?" Naruto asked Itane, who simply replied with a smile, "I've my ways. You go home now."

Kakashi looked at Itane with a serious expression, "I didn't know that you knew Naruto?"

Itane smiled at Kakashi as he said, "There are a lot of things you don't know. Don't worry, everything will be explained at the Hokage's office." as both the Jounins took off to the Hokage tower.

Line Break

When Itane and Kakashi reached the Hokage's Office, they found the entire office filled with eight other Jounins. All the Jounins in the room except Itane had been given teams. When Itane entered the room with Kakashi, Kurenai asked totally surprised, "I didn't know that you took a team, Itane-kun."

Itane simply smiled and said, "No, I didn't Nee-san. I simply went to get Kakashi-san here and also explain a few things later."

Hiruzen decided to interrupt the conversation between the Jounins, "All of you except Itane-kun had been assigned Genin teams. You all advocated tests of your own choice to determine whether they're fit to be Genin or not. State their result as I call out their team number. Team 1?"

"Fail"

"Team 2?"

"Fail"

"Team 3?"

"Fail"

"Team 4?"

"Fail"

"Team 5?"

"Fail"

"Team 6?"

"Fail"

"Team 7?"

"Pass" Kakashi announced leaving everyone shocked that Hatake Kakashi would pass a team.

"Team 8?"

"Pass" Kurenai announced as the Hokage nodded.

"Team 9 is still in circulation under Gai. So Team 10?"

"Pass" Asuma announced to his father.

"The rest of you except Itane, Kurenai, Asuma and Kakashi are dismissed." Hiruzen ordered the remaining Jounin.

"The reason I told you guys to remain is because Kakashi-kun has a lot of questions that Itane-kun and I will have to answer and I want both of you, Asuma-kun and Kurenai-chan as Jounin senseis of the other passing teams this year to hear everything as well." Hiruzen said before turning towards Kakashi, "Go on. Ask."

"Hokage-sama, my concern is regarding my Genin, Uzumaki Naruto. I read the Academy report that says that he is a dunce whose grades are pathetic. It says that his Taijutsu is below average and he has no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu skills. I myself have seen him several times on the streets and he always wore bright orange clothes, and played a lot of pranks on the village while yelling that 'I'll be a Hokage that surpasses the previous Hokages'. The Naruto, I've run into the last two days has been nothing like that. He is not a dunce. He was able to see through my bluffs. He saw underneath the underneath. He got the team to work together. He came up with a brilliant plan that Sasuke and Sakura followed. His Taijutsu skills were impressive, though it is a style I haven't seen before. He used Fuuton Ninjutsu earlier and a B-ranked one at that. He no longer wears orange. He wears grey and black clothes now. He still plays pranks though. But he seems rather secretive, he didn't even yell out his dream when I asked him to introduce himself. His introduction if anything was similar to mine. There has to be an explanation. The academy report said that Sasuke is the Rookie of the year, while Naruto is the dead-last. In my opinion, Naruto is much stronger than Sasuke. I thought he learnt only the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu from the Scroll of Seals?" Kakashi complained.

Both Kurenai and Asuma were shocked. They expected Naruto to be a dunce as well. When Kakashi announced that he passed Team 7, they thought it was because of the Uchiha. They never expected Naruto to be the sole reason for Kakashi passing Team 7.

"Allow me to explain, Hokage-sama." Itane asked Hiruzen. Seeing Hiruzen nod in approval Itane said, "Kakashi-san, the reason why Naruto is as strong as he is now is because I trained him."

Kurenai's, Asuma's and Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise before Kakashi asked, "You trained him. Why?"

Itane began his answer which he and Hiruzen had prepared together, "Kakashi-san, about two years back, when I was still operating as a Konoha spy, I intercepted some messages between Orochimaru and a contact of his who was in Konoha. This concerns not one, but two of your students, Kakashi-san. Orochimaru asked this contact of his certain regarding one of your students, Uchiha Sasuke. The contact told Orochimaru that Uchiha Sasuke was a prodigy. The contact also told Orochimaru that Sasuke hadn't awakened his Sharingan yet. The contact then expressed his intentions to leave Konoha and join Orochimaru. Orochimaru told him to leave Konoha with the Scroll of Seals. The contact asked for a year's time to prepare. He then told Orochimaru that he would use the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki for the purpose. He explained that the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki had displayed excellent sneaking skills in his pranks. His plan was to sabotage the kid in the Academy by teaching him wrong Taijutsu moves and having him kicked out of most classes. The final portion of his plan was to have Naruto fail in the final exam and then trick him into stealing the Scroll of Seals, before killing him and escaping the village with the Scroll of Seals himself. By then I deduced that this contact of Orochimaru is a ninja in the academy, most likely a Chunin. That was when I came to the village and became a Jounin. After informing everything to Hokage-sama, we told Naruto about his burden. Since then, I've trained Naruto myself at the Forest of Death with Hokage-sama's permission. I've also been Naruto's neighbor for over a year. Me and Hokage-sama gave you the wrong address to keep Naruto's training a secret. Being his neighbor, I've been able to train Naruto very discreetly. If Hokage-sama ever needed me, he would have me reverse-summoned. We also gave Naruto a mission. We ordered him to keep hiding his skills in the Academy and fail the Graduation exam. After that, it was his duty to defeat and apprehend the traitor, Mizuki. As for the Scroll of Seals, he never had them or learnt anything from them. It was merely a Summoning Scroll to summon me once the fight was over. Naruto completed the mission successfully and also received a A-rank mission pay. The only ones who know about now are the four people in this room and Iruka-san who somehow got himself entangled with Naruto's mission."

Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma were all shocked at what Itane had just said. Both Itane and Hiruzen decided to give the three Jounin senseis a moment to go through every detail that had been said.

Kakashi was the first to recover, "I understand that you had to make him strong, but why did you have to teach him a Kinjutsu like the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu?"

"It is because Naruto has the Kyuubi within him. Due to the Kyuubi in him, Naruto's chakra coils are much denser than any average person's coils. It would be impossible for him to perform the regular Bunshin. Perfect chakra control, Iryo-Ninjutsu and Genjutsu are beyond his reach. But the Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu is tailor made for him. He can create more Kage-Bunshins than any of us here." Itane replied.

"So how strong is he?" Asuma asked Itane.

"He is about high-Chunin level. Maybe even better, but he doesn't have the experience yet." Itane replied.

"High-Chunin level! Impossible! It is impossible for a below Genin Academy student to suddenly jump to high-Chunin in just a year." Kurenai shrieked.

"I made him train with Kage-Bunshins. That's why I said that the Jutsu was tailor made for him. As you all know, when a Kage-Bunshin dispels, the original retains both the Kage-Bunshin's experience and fatigue. I had him train with an average of five Kage-Bunshins every day for a year. That is worth five years of training. The Kyuubi take care of his fatigue. He is also extremely hard working, so he trains not just one or two hours, but several hours with those Kage-Bunshins." Itane said.

Kakashi was the first to get over his shock, "I see. I suppose you were the one who taught him the B-rank Fuuton Jutsu, Fuuton: Atsugai?" Seeing Itane nod, Kakashi continued asking, "What other Ninjutsu can he use? And also what was his Taijutsu style? He used Kage-Bunshins in his Taijutsu. It was something I've never seen before."

Itane smiled as he answered, "Naruto is different from your average ninja. Most ninja find lower rank Jutsus easier and higher rank Jutsus difficult. But Naruto finds anything below C-rank extremely hard. I've taught him two C-rank, two B-rank and two A-rank Fuuton Jutsus. The C-rank Jutsus are Fuuton: Daitoppa and Fuuton: Reppuusho. The B-rank Jutsus are Fuuton: Atsugai and Fuuton: Shinkuuha and the A-rank Jutsus are Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba and Fuuton: Fuujin no Jutsu. As far as Taijutsu is concerned, he doesn't have any style. I found out that his greatest strength is his unpredictability and the best way to use his unpredictability is with an unpredictable Taijutsu style. He uses clones to aide his unpredictability and cover his loop-holes. You could say that it is a style we came up together with. It is unique to him and only he'll be able to use it."

Asuma asked, "How did you teach him so many Fuuton Jutsus? How did you even know these many high ranked Fuuton Jutsus?"

Itane smiled as he said, "You forget Ni-san, I used to be a spy. I've spied on so many other nations and people before. Like Naruto and you, I too have a natural affinity towards Fuuton and even though I trained well enough to use the other elements, I learn Fuuton jutsus easier and faster than the others."

Asuma smiled as he said, "I see. And how many times do I have to tell you not to call me Ni-san? It makes me feel old."

Kurenai, Itane and Hiruzen chuckled at the last statement before Hiruzen said, "Atleast he doesn't call you Jiji."

Kurenai pulled Itane's ear as she yelled, "You call the Sandaime Hokage-sama, Jiji?"

Itane yelled out in pain as he answered, "Awww…Nee-san please release my ear. Blame that on Naruto. I've spend far too much time with Naruto who refers to Hokage-sama as Jiji all the time. I only do it sometimes to tick him off."

Kurama chuckled in Itane's mindscape, **"ITS FUNNY HOW, WOMEN ALWAYS FIND A WAY AROUND YOU NO MATTER HOW STRONG YOU ARE. ARE YOU A MASOCHIST, KIT? COME TO THINK OF IT GIRLS WHO USE A LITTLE BIT OF VIOLENCE FIND IT VERY EASY TO TAME YOU LIKE SAKURA WHO USED TO HIT YOU ALL THE TIME, ANKO, WHO GETS YOU FLUSTERED SO EASILY AND EVEN KURENAI, WHO LATCHES ONTO YOUR EAR. EVEN YOUR WIVES FROM YOUR TIMELINE WERE ALL AGGRESSIVE WOMEN."**

"Shut up Kurama!" Itane yelled in his mindscape.

"**OH DOES SOMEONE HAVE AN S&amp;M FETISH? DOES SOMEONE ENJOY GETTING WHIPPED?" **Kurama continued teasing his Jinchuuriki.

"Shut up Kurama! How do you know about S&amp;M? Never mind, don't answer that." Itane yelled at Kurama

Kurenai released Itane's ear, before Kakashi brought the group back to the topic at hand, "What about Sasuke? You mentioned Orochimaru looking for information on Sasuke, earlier. Do you think he is targeting Sasuke?"

Itane's expression turned into a grim one as he answered, "During my time as a spy, I came across a lot of information. I heard about the existence of an organization filled with only S-rank Missing-Nin. Both Orochimaru and Sasuke's older brother, Uchiha Itachi were part of the group. The organization has often been used by the Tsuchikage and the Yondaime Kazekage. Orochimaru is no longer a part of the organization. The reason is unknown. I heard a rumor that Orochimaru tried to attack Uchiha Itachi, but was defeated. The reason he attacked Itachi in the first place was to get his hands on the Sharingan. Due to the massacre, Sasuke is the only one Orochimaru can target. Orochimaru also had one more spy besides Mizuki here in Konoha whom we haven't caught yet. So we have to be very careful with our movements. I've also heard rumors that Orochimaru has found a way to be immortal."

Kakashi's, Kurenai's and Asuma's eyes widened in fear before Kakashi asked, "How?"

"I don't know but according to the rumors that I heard, he found a way to make his soul immortal but not his body. So he has to perform a soul transfer Jutsu to inhibit another body and then take control of it. I believe he wants to take control of Sasuke's body." Itane replied.

"But why does he want Sasuke's body? Orochimaru is way stronger than Sasuke? Why would he want to take over a weaker body?" Kurenai asked Itane.

"Nee-san, it is a well-known fact that Orochimaru's dream is to learn every single Ninjutsu technique. What easier way to learn every single Ninjutsu technique than copying them using a Sharingan exists? What more, Sasuke is a pure-blood Uchiha which in other words means that Sasuke has the eyes and body of an Uchiha and won't tire easily from the use of the Sharingan like Kakashi-san. I believe Orochimaru's plan is to put the cursed seal on Sasuke first, make him drunk to its power and have him voluntarily leave Konoha for his power." Itane replied.

"But why would Sasuke leave Konoha? He is treated as the prince of the Village." Asuma asked Itane.

It was Hiruzen who answered the question for him, "Sasuke has a lot of darkness within him because of the massacre. If anything, Sasuke wants more and more power to defeat Itachi. If Orochimaru promises Sasuke power, he'll probably leave the Village voluntarily. We must make sure that Sasuke doesn't get the cursed seal. If he does, Sasuke will get drunk on the power of the cursed seal. Itane-kun here has provided us some very valuable information on the cursed seal. Being one of the few Fuinjutsu experts in Konoha at the moment, he is in charge of finding a counter to it as well. How has it been progressing, Itane-kun?"

Itane answered the Sandaime just as they had planned earlier, "I'm still working on it. It is not ready for use. The problem is that if I do mess with it, chances are that Orochimaru would know about it and then, he would be able to find a way to further strengthen the seal before he uses it on Sasuke. So till I find a way around that, I'm gonna have some problems."

_Flashback__ (italics)_

_Hiruzen and Itane were looking through the crystal ball at Training ground 7 where Team 7 was taking on Kakashi in the Bell Test. They were watching Sasuke attack Kakashi, when Hiruzen asked, "In case Sasuke-kun gets the cursed seal, what do you intend to do about it?"_

_Itane replied, "Don't worry about it Jiji. I already have a seal ready to deal with the cursed seal. Back in my timeline, I had already met a guy named Juugo. Juugo was locked up in a cage by Orochimaru till Sasuke released him. The cursed seal that Orochimaru uses is derived from Juugo's chakra. One of the first things I did after mastering Fuinjutsu, was finding a way around the cursed seal. Once I had Juugo's chakra, it wasn't too difficult."_

"_Then you can remove Anko's cursed seal too?" Hiruzen asked Itane._

"_Sure, I can. But I won't yet. We need to trap Orochimaru in order to kill him. He is too slippery to kill otherwise. If I remove Anko's cursed seal too early, Orochimaru could realize that we're onto him. I'll get rid of Anko's and if necessary, Sasuke's cursed seals after the Chunin exams." Itane replied._

"_But what do we tell the Jounins and Anko? When you remove the cursed seal, they'll ask why you didn't do it earlier." Hiruzen asked Itane._

"_We'll tell them that I've some vital information on the cursed seal and I'm working on a seal to destroy it." Itane replied._

"Thank you for everything. Thank you for taking care of Naruto and also for the information and for working on the cursed seal. I think I owe you a lot already." Kakashi said to Itane in gratitude, who nodded appreciating the gesture.

"I've one more question." Asuma said looking at Itane.

"If you were Naruto's neighbor all along, how did you answer the door every time we came over to your apartment?" Asuma asked.

Itane's face once again sported a smile as he said, "I always had a monkey in the apartment. Whenever one of you rang the bell, the monkey would reverse summon me to the apartment. With my Jounin salary, paying for both the apartments to keep my cover wasn't a problem."

"So you've been fooling us all along, huh?" Kurenai asked while latching onto Itane's ear again.

"Aww…Sorry Nee-san!" Itane screamed as Asuma, Kakashi, Hiruzen and even Kurama in his mindscape started laughing at Itane's expense.

"Sorry won't cut it. You have to give us a proper House warming at your real apartment. That's your only way out of it." Kurenai bargained knowing well enough that he'll have to give in and give her what she asked for.

Kakashi and Asuma agreed with her wanting a free treat.

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: 13,000+ WORDS. WHAT'S WRONG WTH ME? THIS IS MY LONGEST CHAPTER YET. I WAS DETERMINED TO FINISH OFF THE BELL TEST IN THIS CHAPTER AND DID JUST THAT. HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED IT. AS FOR THE PAIRINGS, IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. THE POLLING PERIOD IS OVER. THE FINAL RESULTS ARE:**

**FOR NARUTO'S PAIRING:**

**NARUTO X FEMALE HAKU - 16**

**NARUTO X KARIN - 13**

**NARUTO X TEMARI - 11 **

**NARUTO X INO - 7**

**NARUTO X TAYUYA - 6**

**NARUTO X TENTEN - 5**

**NARUTO X SAKURA - 3 **

**FOR ITANE'S PAIRING:**

**ITANE X ANKO - 21**

**ITANE X MEI - 20**

**ITANE X KONAN - 7**

**ITANE X SHIZUNE - 5**

**ITANE X MABUI - 3**

**ITANE X YUGITO - 3**

**ITANE X YUUGAO - 3**

**ITANE X SAMUI - 3**

**ITANE X HANA - 1 **

**THE FINAL PAIRINGS ARE ITANE X ANKO AND NARUTO X FEMALE HAKU.**

**I FEEL SORRY FOR MEI WHO CAME SO CLOSE AND HENCE I PROMISE YOU THAT I'LL DO SOMETHING ABOUT HER AS WELL, BUT SHE WON'T BE PAIRED WITH ITANE OR NARUTO. **

**I ALSO CHANGED THE STORY TO M, JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE. THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL TAKE SOME TIME SINCE I'LL BE STARTING THE WAVE MISSION ARC. I ALSO HAVE TO FOCUS ON MY OTHER CROSSOVER STORY, SHINOBI AMONG PIRATES WHICH I THINK HAS FEWER WORDS THAN THIS CHAPTER ALONE.**


End file.
